A Love Which Liberates
Wedding Address for Jazzie and Sonny Jones-Smith, by Branden G. Mattox. Stockbridge, GA, August 22nd 2014.
The love may have been conceived a long time ago, but today we are here to celebrate the merged life, the first fruits of that love. Anything conceived out of love is holy.
In a world where we are constantly inundated with news and images of war, poverty, sickness, civil unrest, the bickering of partisan politics and bigotry, it is both refreshing and inspirational to be reminded that love still lives in the land.
It will continue to live on and bless people’s lives no matter who says otherwise because LOVE is the will of GOD, for GOD is LOVE.
Somebody told a lie one day, which said the romantic love of a woman for another woman, or a man for a man is not real, that it is wrong, ugly, disgusting and perverted, because it had nothing to do with a man’s dominion over woman, because supposedly the world revolves around a man and his dominion over women.
With this event, we are demonstrating that the world revolves around love. That the love we hold for the special persons in our lives is indeed real. Because the love is real, it cannot help but be right. It is beautiful. It is holy and has real meaning and purpose in society today, which have taken marriage vows for granted with sky-rocketing divorce trends. Oh, if their love only had to fight for the right to be, perhaps they might not leave their vows by the wayside, a trivial novelty to be thrown away once the thrill is gone.
Though, here we are in the midst of: Disrespect, Dishonor, Discrimination, Disregard, Dismissal and sometimes just plain Dissed by those who say they love us. In the midst of it all, we are here with smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts. We are too filled with love to hate back. The more our love is oppressed and repressed, the more defiant it rears it beauty and its strength. That my dear, is Love Under Fire, no less defiant than the love which led Ashech, Meshech and Abednego dancing through the fire unscathed, no less passionate than what led Jesus to the cross, ravaged and scorned to then resurrect himself anew like the Phoenix, no less fierce than any mother or father, husband or wife would protect and defend the honor of those they love.
On this birthday of your merged lives, remember Frederick Douglas was denied the honor and dignity of a birth certificate. Though he was born indeed, to give him one would admit the humanity of a slave. As brilliant as he was, becoming more erudite than the men who had once owned him, he never truly knew his age. Denying him a certificate documenting and acknowledging his life, his existence, was society’s way of telling him from the very beginning that, “You do not matter, you have no rights, your humanity is not real nor the same as that of a white man and you have no value other than that which you can be sold for.”
Today, this special birthday of your merged lives is experiencing a Frederick Douglas style entry into the world. Though, like Frederick Douglas, it will be heard and will be recognized. Like Frederick Douglas, your love will liberate others from the mired depths of traditional hatred, ignorance and fear.
Your love will stand tall as the trees.
Your love will spread wide as the seas.
Your love will be for the whole world to see.
Your love will shine bright in the night like the stars above.
The fire of your love will melt rigid hearts of stone and change people’s wrongs to right.
Your love will soon teach our state of Georgia to redneckognize the moral error of its ways in making itself an enemy of love.
Today, the vindication of your love is already at hand, and so we celebrate that as well.
Love is indeed a spiritual fire which edifies and illuminates and never destroys. May the spark between you two ignite to blaze an inferno capable of engulfing the whole world. Amen!
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