My husband and I recently celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary (Hallelujah thanks be to God). I believe we would both say that living in the context of marriage has been for us some of the most difficult and refining work of our lives. I would say that marriage has been for me like a mirror: showing me things about myself I probably could not have known outside of the context of a relationship this deep and constant. I’m not sure you can sleep with someone, see and talk with them daily, share finances and responsibilities and parenting and meals and rest and worship and recreation and sex, and keep your dark places secret. Not for long at least.

For me, marriage has been a well of refinement, often difficult or painful, occasionally boring, occasionally romantic, mostly rewarding and gratifying; and, once we’ve gotten through the hard stuff, a source of deep contentment. Like life, really, if you’re engaging with it. If you are hiding from it, or avoiding conflict, you probably aren’t doing it right.

It’s nice to have a person know you really well and not feel like you have to hide things. It’s nice to always have a fan, someone who’s got your back. It’s nice to have someone around to mitigate loneliness. It’s nice to have someone I trust around to tell me when I’m being crazy. I like being married, I married the right person, and I’m grateful. We celebrate how far we've come, and congratulate ourselves on the hard work it took to get here.

But. A few things:
We understand that marriage isn’t for everybody, and that those who prefer to remain unmarried are often tacitly de-valued in culture, at least in church culture.
We understand that many are seeking a marriage partner, and haven’t found him or her; and that this wait can be long and uncomfortable.
We understand that for many, marriage will be some of the most difficult work of our lives.
We understand that some marriages are unsustainable, people make mistakes, and many feel great pain when they end.
We understand that marriage has been for some, especially women, a context for abuse, subjugation, and inequality.

So, I don’t want to publish a litany about marriage without acknowledging those things. For many, the subject of marriage is a source of pain. Married isn’t the only way to live. It’s not the be-all, end-all of human relational existence. Married people are not more valuable or useful in society than single folks. God loves the married and the single. God moves in and through people regardless of attachments or relationships. God is pouring love to all.

All that said, if you are married, I invite you to pray:

God, in your wisdom you have created us to live in community with one another as Creator, Son, and Spirit dwell in community.
To us you have given marriage as part of that community.

We understand that marriage is a reflection of the Trinity: two in partnership, with God as leader.
We understand that conflict is inevitable, and ease is never guaranteed.
We understand that every relationship is an opportunity to have our eyes opened, our hearts expanded.

May we speak kindly.
May we enjoy one another’s company.
May we be good friends, and good lovers.
May we generously serve one another in joy and humility.
May we listen well and understand one another deeply.
May we delight in one another - body, soul, intellect.
May we put our partner’s needs above our own.
May we have patience with one another’s defects.
May we each have the courage to give voice to our own needs.
May we each pull our weight, living in equality and mutual respect.

As we wound our partners, forgive us.
As we are wounded by our partners, may we graciously forgive.
As we become complacent, show us ways to win one another.
As we fall into unhealthy patterns of communication, give us strength to change.
As we get stuck in anger, fear, or pain; may we be moved again by love.
As we are discouraged by life circumstances - illness, finances, family conflict - fight for us, Lord, and give us peace.

In learning how to love well, we look to Christ as our example and inspiration.

Help us to accomplish good work together.
Help us to support and encourage each other in aspirations and endeavors.
Help us to care well for those people you put around us.
Help us to steward well the resources you give us.
Help us to not shirk the work of caring for our own souls and bodies, so that we may have something to offer our partner.
Help us to connect to you individually, so that following Jesus together comes naturally.
Help us to not shy away from conflict, but learn to engage our disagreements with intention and respect.
Help us to humbly ask for outside relational help when we need it.

May our marriages speak to us and to others about the unfailing love of God, the kindness and sacrifice of Jesus.
May we find redemption, peace, and satisfaction in our marriages.
Amen.

God of Love, fill us anew with the energy of your love
For we find ourselves in conflict and disagreement with our sisters and brothers;
But we want Your heart to move us.

We confess our tendency to cast judgement on those whose ideas differ from ours.
We confess our tendency to consider ourselves superior.
We confess our tendency to blame, call names, castigate, and demean.
We confess our tendency to speak truth in righteous indignation, and not in love.
We confess our tendency to use sarcasm as a weapon of righteousness.
We confess our tendency to obsess about being right.

Help us to have patience with those who do not share our perspective.
Help us to have grace for those we consider to be in the wrong.
Help us to extend forgiveness to those who hurt us or those close to us.

May we find, in each circumstance, those places where we are complicit.
May we attend to the log in our own eye.
May we remember that the good news of the Kingdom of God is steadily creeping in,
That fear, defensiveness, and violence are alien to it;
That peace, beauty, and gentleness are its hallmarks.
May we compass our movements by Love’s true north.

We relinquish our need to win arguments.
We relinquish our need to demonstrate our superior worldview.
In those opportunities we get to peaceably speak our opinion, may we do it with
    Love
    Joy
    Peace
    Patience
    Kindness
    Goodness
    Faithfulness
    Gentleness
    Self-control
And may Christ be glorified by our every word and action.

Amen