June 2011

Royal wedding fever may have subsided but wasn't it a brilliant wedding? William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, did magnificently. They were both so obviously extraordinarily happy and in love. What more can you ask?

Not many people get married with 2 billion others watching! The pomp and ceremony which we Brits do so well was stunning as always. The abbey was amazing, beautiful and prayerful, with all its historic significance and associations. The crowds were deliriously happy, despite all the waiting. It was an intoxicating mix. And the weather didn't let us down!

One of the most moving parts of the whole service for me was the prayer that Prince William and Kate Middleton had composed, and which the Bishop of London prayed for them and with them. How marvellous that our future king and queen are not only writing prayers but praying them to God with us all! And didn't it say all the right things, not least that sense of service of us all and God? Every couple should be invited to write their own prayer.

At the heart of it all is the love of two young people. Love at its best wants to see the other person flourish, and seeks to build them up, giving them space and opportunity and encouragement to grow and develop to become the best person that they possibly can be. My prayer certainly is that that will continue to be true for Prince William and Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Weddings always have this wonderful mix of being both very personal and private to two people in love, but also very public, involving family and friends. Our marriage service has a really important question in it addressed to the congregation, "Will you, the families and friends, support and uphold them in this marriage now and in the years to come?"

This is part of why it is so important that couples get married and don't just live together without marriage. Marriage of course begins with the couple but in some ways involves us all. William and Kate have reminded us of that. May they, and all married couples, continue to grow in love, and be supported and upheld in their love by the rest of us.