Abstract

Beginning with the discussion of whether marriage is to be seen as rite of passage or as mere act of blessing, homiletical and liturgical issues in church weddings are considered. Historical aspects of wedding liturgies (especially Martin Luther's “Traubüchlein”) are reconsidered. In the church, marriage is to be based on the metaphorical analogy between the ecclesiological relation of Christ and the church and the matrimonial relation between man and woman (Eph. 5:21ff). There is evidence, then, for an understanding of matrimony itself as blessing, which is to be symbolized in wedding ritual. Wedding, as initiation into this special status of blessing, has to be regarded as a liturgical set: both a separation from parental ties and an empowerment for blessed partnership. While media patterns of “dream-wedding” form the actual reception of marriage, church wedding gains its meaning as “Gegenspiel” (“counterplay”) that communicates the liberating idea of marriage and matrimony in biblical symbols of freedom and care.