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This homily was preached at the wedding of Denton Knight and Madison Poe at Saint Stephen’s Church on Saturday, October 11, 2025.

Texts: 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 5:1-10

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Marriage is for salvation. The highest purpose of your Christian marriage will be to help each other to be saved– to help each other to be better Christians. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls all of us to a life of discipleship, a life of following him in the way of the cross and the way of resurrection. And it is not an easy life. It is a life that calls us to die to self and to give ourselves in love to God and to others. It is a life that is characterized by the Beatitudes we just heard: poverty of spirit, humility, purity of heart, striving for what is right and good and lovely. It is a life that is characterized by the love that St. Paul so beautifully extols to the Corinthians. A love that is patient and kind. A love that is not irritable or resentful. A love that does not insist on its own way– that bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things. That is the kind of love to which we are called as Christians. And it isn’t easy to live this way.

Some people can do this on their own, or they choose to do it on their own. But for most of us, we find that we want a companion in life to help us on the way to salvation. We find that God has called us to give ourselves to another person, someone we find is a counterpoint and a complement to our own soul. And that’s what you have found in each other. And so, as you already have been doing, but will continue to do, you will help each other to be sanctified, to be saved. You will help each other to be the Christians that God calls you to be. And you will do this with both with your strengths and with your shortcomings.

Each of you has strengths, ways in which you will encourage and inspire each other. And each of you has imperfections, shortcomings. Denton will have to be patient with Madison, and Madison will have to be patient with Denton. And so in both your strengths and in your shortcomings, you will teach each other how to love, how to be patient, how to forgive. You are called to encourage each other in your Christian life.

And this will not be possible for you in your own strength, which is why in the marriage service we so frequently and unceasingly ask for God to bless your marriage, to give you the grace and help that you will need to love each other, to be faithful to each other.

Your married life together will be a life in which you truly look at each other. And when you look at the face of your beloved, you will know in your heart, “This is my person.” Marriage means looking at each other, in fidelity, not looking somewhere else, at someone else. We hope and pray that this will be a marriage that lasts, that endures for many years and decades– that you will grow old together, and will continue to see each other face to face. You’ll have more wrinkles, more gray in your hair, but you’ll see each other still, as you do today.

This marriage is for your salvation, your coming to know the grace of God in its fullness. And if you remember nothing else from my homily, remember that. That’s what this is for, this is its highest purpose. Marriage is not only for companionship, not only for romance, not only for having children– as great and desirable as all those things are. The highest purpose of your marriage is to help each other be saved. So that someday, having lived together faithfully in this life, you will in the age to come have life everlasting. So that, in the world to come, you will both be there, with all the saints.

And you will once more look upon the face of your beloved, now radiant with the divine glory. And you will be able to know, “This person is here, in part, because I helped them. I helped them to remain faithful. I helped them to learn how to love, to live according to the Beatitudes, to live a love that is patient and kind and that endures all things.” And that is the greatest joy of marriage. To know that you helped another person make it to the Kingdom of Heaven.

And that is what I ask both of you to remember throughout your married life. That’s what this is about. You’re helping each other to follow our Lord Jesus and to take one step at a time into his glorious and joyful Kingdom, into the land of that love, which, as St. Paul says, never ends. Amen.

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sherman, Texas, will observe Holy Week with a full schedule of services. As a traditional Anglo-Catholic parish, we will celebrate Our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection with the very best of the Western Christian tradition.

Our services feature sacred organ music, ancient and modern hymns, and readings from the King James Bible. Children are welcomed and fully a part of the celebration.

On Palm Sunday (April 13 at 9:30 am), we will commemorate the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem with a procession and festal hymns.

On Holy Monday and Holy Wednesday (April 14 and 16 at 9 am), we will pray Morning Prayer and remember Jesus’ final teachings in Jerusalem.

On Maundy Thursday (April 17 at 7 pm), we will observe the Washing of Feet, celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper, and remember the Lord’s betrayal and arrest.

On Good Friday (April 18 at 7 pm), we will hear the story of Our Lord’s Passion according to Saint John, venerate the holy cross, sing Good Friday hymns, and celebrate the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

On Easter Eve (April 19 at 8 pm), we will kindle the paschal fire and hear the story of our salvation in a tapestry of readings, choral anthems, and prayers. We will announce Christ’s Resurrection, sing joyous hymns, and celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter.

On Easter Sunday (April 20 at 9:30 am), our Easter celebration continues with a festal High Mass, paschal hymns, and a Children’s Choir special. After the service, an Easter brunch and Easter egg hunt for the kids will follow in the Parish Hall and Garden.

Come and see!

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church

401 S. Crockett St.

Sherman, TX 75090

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of my Catholic upbringing is that I had no devotion to the Virgin Mary throughout my childhood and adolescence. Of course, I did not view her negatively, but I did not ask for her intercessions, nor pray the Angelus, the Rosary, or the Hail Mary. When I became Anglican during university, my lack of Marian devotion and minimal interest in Marian theology remained.

I am increasingly convinced that this is not ideal, especially given my pro-life convictions. The Advent and Christmas seasons provide more support for the pro-life position than any other—the Annunciation and virginal conception, the pregnancy of Mary, the leaping of John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb, even (tragically) Herod’s massacre of the infants. They are also the liturgical seasons in which Mary is most prominent.

This is not coincidental. From Annunciation to Nativity, Mary persisted in her commitment to the sanctity of the life she bore. She is the exemplar of the woman who said yes to life.

Yet Evangelicals have pushed her to the margins of our spirituality, theology, and iconography (not literally our icons, but the whole visual system we present to the world as representing our Christianity). Evangelicals can correct this unfortunate development with an added Marian emphasis in preaching, theology, and devotion, done tastefully and non-excessively (see Luther’s Mariology for a good example). Contemplation of Mary will not only further illuminate the pro-life position, but, like all good Mariology, it will draw our attention to her Son—not the one who said yes to life, but the One who is Life itself.