Monday, June 23, 2008
Marriage Recognition
This past weekend Trinity celebrated marriage recognition for those member couples who are marking one year or less of marriage and those marking 50 years or more in 2008.
We added honoring those married one year or less last year and this year had a separate dinner for them at the parsonage on Saturday evening after worship. 30 couples were invited and three were able to attend. It was a very nice evening.
A longer Trinity tradition is honoring those couples married for 50 years or more with a dinner following the 11:00 a.m. worship service. Trinity has 113 such couples in 2008 including 15 celebrating 50 years of marriage this year and 6 celebrating 60. The longest married couple here has been married for 69 years. If you add all of the 113 couples years of marriage together the total married years is 6,337! About 135 attended this year's dinner.
Ten of the 15 couples celebrating 50 years of marriage were with us on Sunday as well as four of the 6 celebrating 60 years of marriage. The longest-married couple in attendance have been married for 65 years this year.
We honored all of the couples during the announcements before the 11:00 a.m. service with special mention of the 50/60 year couples. Then, all of those celebrating 50 or more years of marriage were invited to a dinner in Hyson Hall after worship. Those celebrating 50/60 years were invited to bring along family members and were photographed for our "Lansdale Lutheran" newsletter.
This is not an easy day for our members who have lost a spouse either recently or long ago. Many of our widows and widowers stay away on this Sunday. I tried to address this in the announcements, as we were honoring those long-time married folks who were present, when I said, "As we honor these members we are fully aware that there are many in our congregation who have lost spouses who would be celebrating 50 years or more together if death had not parted them. With you, we remember our loved ones fondly today." This was especially important since our 11:00 a.m. service announcements are heard live on the radio by many who have lost a spouse, I'm sure.
After the dinner, Pastor Tiemeyer and I led an informal program and moved about Hyson Hall with a microphone asking questions. I asked the 65 year married couple for their advise on long-time marriage and they said "patience." A number of these folks (anyone married here more than 52 or 53 years ago) were married in the "old" Trinity church building on East Main Street. Two couples noted that, while they were married at the "new" Trinity church building on West Main Street, their reception was back in the basement of the "old" building on East Main Street. We asked for any "how we met" or "first date" stories and heard some cute stories including one, told by the husband, that his wife-to-be was so excited to be on a first date with him that she couldn't eat her hot dog meal. Pastor Tiemeyer asked how many grew up attending "Luther League" and about one-third of those present responded. When I asked how many had attended church camp, only three hands went up.
A wonderful day to celebrate marriage!
We added honoring those married one year or less last year and this year had a separate dinner for them at the parsonage on Saturday evening after worship. 30 couples were invited and three were able to attend. It was a very nice evening.
A longer Trinity tradition is honoring those couples married for 50 years or more with a dinner following the 11:00 a.m. worship service. Trinity has 113 such couples in 2008 including 15 celebrating 50 years of marriage this year and 6 celebrating 60. The longest married couple here has been married for 69 years. If you add all of the 113 couples years of marriage together the total married years is 6,337! About 135 attended this year's dinner.
Ten of the 15 couples celebrating 50 years of marriage were with us on Sunday as well as four of the 6 celebrating 60 years of marriage. The longest-married couple in attendance have been married for 65 years this year.
We honored all of the couples during the announcements before the 11:00 a.m. service with special mention of the 50/60 year couples. Then, all of those celebrating 50 or more years of marriage were invited to a dinner in Hyson Hall after worship. Those celebrating 50/60 years were invited to bring along family members and were photographed for our "Lansdale Lutheran" newsletter.
This is not an easy day for our members who have lost a spouse either recently or long ago. Many of our widows and widowers stay away on this Sunday. I tried to address this in the announcements, as we were honoring those long-time married folks who were present, when I said, "As we honor these members we are fully aware that there are many in our congregation who have lost spouses who would be celebrating 50 years or more together if death had not parted them. With you, we remember our loved ones fondly today." This was especially important since our 11:00 a.m. service announcements are heard live on the radio by many who have lost a spouse, I'm sure.
After the dinner, Pastor Tiemeyer and I led an informal program and moved about Hyson Hall with a microphone asking questions. I asked the 65 year married couple for their advise on long-time marriage and they said "patience." A number of these folks (anyone married here more than 52 or 53 years ago) were married in the "old" Trinity church building on East Main Street. Two couples noted that, while they were married at the "new" Trinity church building on West Main Street, their reception was back in the basement of the "old" building on East Main Street. We asked for any "how we met" or "first date" stories and heard some cute stories including one, told by the husband, that his wife-to-be was so excited to be on a first date with him that she couldn't eat her hot dog meal. Pastor Tiemeyer asked how many grew up attending "Luther League" and about one-third of those present responded. When I asked how many had attended church camp, only three hands went up.
A wonderful day to celebrate marriage!
