For human beings, faithfulness and love need not go together.  In God the two are joined, and it is in God's steadfast love that we seek to root our covenant of fidelity as well as our emotions of love.  In the flux of experience, one thing holds true ~ the vows of fidelity grounded in the love of God which abides forever.

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Thus it is not the pastor who performs the marriage but the wedding couple.  Both church and state have an interest in marriage, and marriage is done in the presence of a representative of one or the other.   But the marriage is concluded by the two partners.  The couple marry each other, and the minister is the principal witness to their action.  If the marriage is at its heart basically an exchange of vows of faithfulness and commitment, this is something that the minister cannot do for someone else.  Nonetheless, the couple is not left on their own to fulfill the promises, for God’s blessing and support are asked.