Marriage and 'The End of the World'

I was in Raleigh, NC, this weekend for the wedding of my good friends Ryan and Anna. It was probably the nicest wedding I've ever been to. It was over-the-top fancy and I haven't eaten better hors d'oeuvres in my life. It was also my first non-groomsman involvement in a wedding. I was a 'reader'. I warmed up the crowd with Revelation 21:1-5 before Doctor Steven Scott Garber (as the program very nicely spelled out) took it home with an amazing homily.

I love homilies that include readings from Wendell Berry and no one can read Berry aloud like Garber (I think it was a selection from Hannah Coulter but I'll have to check on that). The homily had a simple but profound point: In your marriage-to-be what is your telos, and what praxis is sufficient to get you there?

Perhaps it was appropriate that I read from Revelation before Garber got up to speak. All joking aside, I did warm up the crowd with those 5 verses:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

That is our telos. Left Behind? I think not.

But what is our praxis?