360 Couples Juice Up Marriage Vows

Taytay, Philippines - 360 couples trooped to Taytay First Church of the Nazarene for a doze of marriage improvement tips from marriage counselors Clem and Merlyn Guillermo of World Teach last Saturday, August 23, 2008.

Entitled "Husband and Wife Connections... Usapang Mag-asawa", Pastor Clem touched the roles of men in the home.  He tackled men's forgotten role as spiritual leader and responsible partner through light moments which prompted the group to laugh in agreement.  Pastor Clem described that, "The ideal marriage situation is like a stunt in a circus where a husband swings to catch his wife up high on the ropes as his in-laws throws her to him on a swing at the other end.  If he catches her, the responsibility for her life depends on him almost entirely.  But if he missed on catching her, they'll both be dead."

As a cultural backgrounder, it is not uncommon for a grown-up child to live beyond 18 years old in the parent's home and raise his/her own family in the same house, resulting into an extended community of close relatives.  And, comic relief is a widespread method of sharing truth to most Filipinos facing serious issues in life as such. 

Sister Merlyn on her part, delved on women’s issues in marriage.  She gave differences on how men and women were made and expounded the command in Ephesians 5: 22-33 about the roles of  women and vise-versa as Christ is to the church.

The seminar ended with couples praying, hugging, and whispering sweet nothings for each other as they renew their commitment to “love and to hold, ‘til death do us part”.

Sponsoring the event are Nazarene ministries including WM Communications AP, Sunday School and Discipleship Ministry, LAMP, and Metro Manila District of the Church of the Nazarene.

AP Media and Mom’s magazine, Raychem Enterprises, Mocha Blends, Books for Tomorrow Publishing, and Back to the Bible distributed products to the participants.

by: JCM 

this post was filed under Around The Region on Sep 1, 2008