 WELCOME! The biblical writers frequently use marital terms to speak of God’s relationship with His people and the salvation that He has prepared for His bride, the Church. For example, "For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you" (Isaiah 62:5). This imagery is carried over into the New Testament, as Christ identifies Himself as the Bridegroom of the Church (Matthew 9:15; 25:1). No wedding would be complete without a wedding feast, and it is no different with the marriage of Christ and the Church. As the bride of Christ feasts on the salutary gift of the Lord’s Supper, she enjoys a foretaste of that eternal wedding feast to come. Drawing on this theme, the hymn "Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness" (LSB 636) urges the faithful to "Hasten as a bride to meet Him, And with loving rev’rence greet Him" (st 2) as she anticipates His coming in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Those who "receive this sacrament worthily" are those who have the wedding garment of faith in these words: "Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." TAGS: Service Announcements
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