Eve and Derek might just
have chosen the best week for an interfaith Jewish-Christian marriage. On top
of that, this might just be the best week for a wedding that unites not just
two individuals, but two young families. Why do I say that? Well, this week,
our faiths celebrate two holidays, Passover and Easter.
What are Passover and Easter
all about? I don't mean the minute details of the stories we tell. I mean what
overarching themes are embedded within these celebrations? What is at the core
of these holidays that are not just central to our religions, but critical to
their founding myths?
Simple; they are all about
renewal. They are, after all, Spring holidays. As such they draw on aspects of
the human experience that have their roots deeply embedded in the human psyche,
that precede the dawn of our great faiths.
Let's think about that word
for a moment, renewal. What does it imply? Renew is different from just new. It
implies both something new, but also a continuation of something that existed
before. Spring, after all, does not, if you will, spring out of nowhere. It
emerges from Winter, as the physical world renews itself.
That is what bringing two
families together, as we do here today, is all about. That is why earlier in this
ceremony, we took a moment to acknowledge the three important individuals that
share the stage with Eve and Derek here today. That is why later this week both
Christians and Jews will incorporate eggs into their rituals. Because,
regardless of the philosophical abstract question regarding what came first,
the Easter egg and the egg on the Seder plate were both definitely preceded by
the chicken.
This spirit of renewal is
what Eve draws on when she says, "Our love and commitment (will) allow us
to build a solid foundation and a happy home for our children... It is
important to us to show our children what a happy, healthy marriage is."
And it is what Derek draws on when he says, "My desire to marry is because
I would like to share my life with Eve... I love Eve and want her to know that
I want to spend my life with her. It is time... to officially tie the
knot."
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