All that we have comes from God. All that we have comes from God. This profound belief is shared by the peoples of the book, the great Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All that we have comes from God.
This is the place from where we begin when we want to understand what it means to be human, what it means to be created, what it means to be gifted with the world in which we live and the life that we have. All that we have comes from God.
This is the place from where we begin when we want to understand our proper response to God, what it is that we owe God, what it is that God wants of us. All that we have comes from God.
And all that we are asked to do in return is to honour God, is to love God, is to return thanks to God. All that we have comes from God.
The reading from the Qu’ran read today reminds us to “give glory to Allah” and bids us to offer praise at every time of day. The reading from the epistle to the Colossians reminds us that “whatever we do, in word or deed”, we should “do everything … giving thanks to God”. This is the place from where we begin in all that we do, in everything that we have, in all that we are. All that we have comes from God.
And this is the place from which our covenants with one another begin.
The gift of relationship is a gift from God; and good relationships are founded in God—a God who is relational and who longs to be in relationship with us; a God who created us, who loves us and who gifts us with every good thing. This is the place from where we begin as we covenant with one another—as we covenant with one another to live together in society, in community, in family, in marriage. All that we have comes from God.
Relationships founded in God exhibit important characteristics. The Qu’ran speaks of dwelling in tranquillity with love and mercy in our hearts. The Colossians reading speaks of clothing ourselves “with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience”, “with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony”, and of the “peace of Christ” ruling our hearts. All these qualities are fruits of a love grounded in recognition that all that we have comes from God.
Hesam and Maria come today seeking God’s blessing on their marriage. They share the gift of faith in the tradition of the peoples of the book. They do not share exactly the same faith; but they do share the desire to ensure that their relationship is grounded in the God from whom all that we have comes. They come desiring to love God, and honour God, and return thanks to God for the gift they have been given.
None of us come to our relationships exactly the same as the other people with whom we covenant. Each one of us is a unique person, a unique creature of God. Each one of us comes to the life we have with different skills, different abilities, different gifts. Each one of us comes to our relationships with our own struggles, our own baggage, our own foibles. All that we have comes from God.
When we know that what we have comes from God, we learn to understand life as gift. We discover that life is present. And we desire to live that life in all its fullness as the gift from God that it is. We meet difference with compassion and understanding. We meet variation with wonder and awe. We meet challenge with commitment and endurance.
And so today, Maria and Hesam come promising to be compassionate with one another, to live in the wonder of each other’s differences and variations and to meet the challenges that their relationship will bring with commitment and endurance. And they come seeking God’s blessing on their intention. Surely, this too is gift indeed. All that we have comes from God; and all that we owe God, all that God requires of us, all that is necessary for us is to honour God, to love God, and to return our thanks to God for these gifts.
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