Windsor - Bishop Michael Curry quoted Martin Luther King during his address at the royal wedding.
Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, spoke about the "power of love" as he addressed the congregation at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Windsor, on Saturday morning.
Referencing the late civil rights activist during his passionate speech, Bishop Curry said: "We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world."
The bishop began and ended his speech with quotes from Dr King.
Meghan, 36, and Harry, 33, held hands and smiled happily during the address.
The brunette beauty couldn't stop smiling as she clapped eyes on her now-husband waiting for her at the altar, while the flame-haired hunk wiped tears from his cheeks.
The happy couple held hands and exchanged smiles as they met at the front, before the chapel was asked to join in with the first hymn 'Lord of all Hopefulness'.
Harry's mother the late Princess Diana's sister then gave the first reading, before Bishop Curry.
Speaking previously about being asked to speak at the ceremony, Bishop Curry said in a statement: "The love that has brought and will bind Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle together has its source and origin in God and is the key to life and happiness. And so, we celebrate and pray for them today."
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby presided over the exchange of vows whilst the Dean of Windsor conducted the service itself.
Bishop Curry's speech was followed by a stunning gospel rendition of 'Stand By Me', before Harry and Meghan exchanged vows.
Meghan followed in her sister-in-law Duchess Catherine's footsteps by choosing to remove the word "obey" from her marriage vows.
Harry's mother Princess Diana also omitted "obey" from her vows to Harry's father Prince Charles in 1981.
Harry and Meghan pledged themselves to one another "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part", in front of a huge array of celebrity guests including George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and David and Victoria Beckham.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby blessed the marriage following their exchange of vows and finally declared them "husband and wife" as shrieks and cheers could be heard from outside the chapel.
The couple finally joined their two witnesses to officially sign the wedding register.
READ THE FULL TEXT OF BISHOP CURRY'S ADDRESS:
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. (Song of Songs 8:6-7)
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: "We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way."
There’s power in love. Do not underestimate it. Anyone who has ever fallen in love, knows what I mean. But think about love in any form or experience of it. It actually feels good to be loved, and to express love. There is something right about it. And there’s a reason.
An old medieval poem says it: "Where true love is found, God himself is there."
The Bible, 1 John 4 says it this way. "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; Everyone who loves is born of God; Whoever does not love does not know God. For God is love." (1 John 4:4-8)
There’s power in love.
Love can help and heal when nothing else can.
Love can lift up and liberate for living when nothing else will.
And the love that brings two people together is the same love that can bind them together. Whether on mountaintops of happiness and through valleys of hardship. Love is strong as death. Its flashes are flashes of fire. Many waters cannot quench love. Love can see you through! There’s power in love.
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But the love of which we speak is not only for couples getting married or just for interpersonal relationships.
Jesus of Nazareth taught us that the way of love is the way to a real relationship with the God who created all of us, and the way to true relationship with each other as children of that one God, as brothers and sisters in God’s human family.
One scholar said it this way: "Jesus had founded the most revolutionary movement in human history: a movement built on the unconditional love of God for the world and the mandate to live that love." (Charles Marsh's The Beloved Community)
And in so doing, to change lives and the world itself! There’s a reason.
An old spiritual may suggest why: "If you cannot preach like Peter, There is a balm in Gilead, And if you cannot pray like Paul, To make the wounded whole, You can tell the love of Jesus, There is a balm in Gilead, How he died to save us all, To heal the sin-sick soul."
"Just tell the love of Jesus, how he died to save us all."
He didn’t sacrifice his life for himself or anything he could get out of it. He did it for others, for the other, for the good and wellbeing of others. That’s love.
How does St. Paul say it?
Love is not jealous, rude, or boastful.
Love does not insist on its own way.
Love is unselfish, sacrificial, kind and just.
Love seeks the good and the well-being of the other.
Love makes room and space for the other to be.
(See 1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
This love, this is the way of Jesus. And it’s game changer.
Imagine our homes and families when this way of love is the way.
Imagine our neighbourhoods and communities when love is the way.
Imagine our governments and countries when love is the way.
Imagine business and commerce when this love is the way.
Imagine our world when love is the way.
No child would go to bed hungry in such a world as that.
Poverty would become history in such a world as that.
The earth would be as a sanctuary in such a world as that.
We would treat one another as children of God, regardless of differences.
We would learn how to lay our swords and shields down by the riverside to study war no more.
There would be a new heaven, a new earth, a new world. A new and beautiful human family. The very dream of God.
Love is strong as death. Its flashes are flashes of fire. Many waters cannot quench love.
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The late French Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, was at once a scientist, a Roman Catholic priest, a theologian, a true mystic. His was one of the great minds and spirits of the 20th century.
He suggested that the discovery and harnessing of fire was one of the great technological discoveries of human history.
Fire made it possible to cook food, thereby reducing the spread of disease.
Fire made it possible to stay warm in cold climates, thereby making human migration possible.
Fire made the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Industrial Revolution possible.
If you drove here this morning, you did so in part because of harnessed fire.
I flew here from the U.S. due to controlled burn of fire.
Fire is involved in broadcasting this wedding around the world. And we can text, tweet, email, and otherwise socially engage one another due to fire. Fire was one of the great technological discoveries of humanity.
In light of this, de Chardin said that if human beings ever harness the energies of love, then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.
Love is the very fire and energy of real life!
Dr. King was right: "We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way."
My brother, my sister, God love you, God bless you.
My brothers, my sisters, God love you, God bless you.
And may God hold us all In those almighty hands of love.
Amen.