Here is Love by Paul Beasley Murray

Paul Beasley-Murray deals with preaching love and marriage; the bulk of the book, and its richness, consists of sermons emphasising the importance of scriptural preaching at weddings

Here is Love
By Paul Beasley Murray
College of Baptist Ministers
ISBN: 9781916503588
Reviewed by Geoff Colmer 

https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/here-is-love-preaching-at-weddings


It is a pleasure reviewing this book but a slightly strange pleasure: I have preached at a wedding only twice in the last 20 years, on both occasions at the weddings of my sons. Maybe I’m not well placed to write about Paul’s latest book. However, wedding services were very much part of my life previously, and it’s always good to taste the fruit of another’s reflective practice over many years.

When marrying people in the early years of my ministry, I benefitted from Paul’s wisdom as my previous theological college principal. I used his Happy Ever After as the basis of marriage preparation. However, there was nothing like Here is Love at that time, save a Grove booklet by Ian Bunting. It would have been a valuable resource.

Paul has conducted numerous and varied weddings and what comes over is he really likes a wedding! The book begins with some reflection on weddings in general, how weddings have changed, and the statistics around marriage, weddings and church weddings in particular. After sharing his personal experience of many years, a section includes the creation of a number of policies concerning weddings, something particularly useful for those not in Anglican churches.

Helpfully, there is an examination of some of the challenges of preaching: the dilemma of knowing who to preach to, and the mixed nature of the congregation, among others. However, the bulk of the book, and its richness, consists of sermons, each with a preceding commentary, emphasising the importance of scriptural preaching at weddings.

There are 16 sermons, six from the Old Testament, four from the Gospels, five from the New Testament Letters, and a concluding sermon. Within this expanse, the sermons are varied, addressing the different circumstances of the couples. All of them are quintessentially Paul, drawing extensively on the wisdom of others as well as his own experience and knowledge. They have a lightness of touch while speaking with serious honesty and realistic expectation. There is creativity, compassion, poignancy and challenge. Above all, without being explicitly evangelistic, save one, these sermons are abundant with gospel, good news.

The commentaries do not simply touch upon the passages but excavate them thoroughly. And, in the process address issues such as divorce, remarriage, the marriage of non-believers, cohabitation, what the apostle Paul means by submission.  Both the commentary and the sermons make for good reading. The sermons, while specifically preached at a wedding, would not be out of place, with some small adaptation, in any service of worship.

Of all of them, I most enjoyed the sermon on the Song of Songs where Paul goes for a specifically erotic rather than allegorical approach, with which I would concur. I sense that he particularly enjoyed preaching this! A final sermon is a celebration of God’s love and, appropriately, ends on a high note.

This is a book to read and enjoy, though maybe not in one go, but perhaps devotionally, for there is much to feed the soul.  If I was preaching at a wedding I would find it tempting to pick out one of the sermons and put it into my own voice. Used judiciously, Here I Love would definitely enhance any preaching. 
 

Geoff Colmer is a former President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain