Marriage and Specialness as an Officiant of A Course In Miracles

Our very own Rev. Krista brings us this month's blog.

The brightest Spring Blessings to you all!

You may wonder how an ordained officiant of A Course in Miracles can be marrying people. Doesn’t the Course talk about there being no such thing as specialness and yet we call this ‘your special day’. We refer to the couple as ‘special to each other’. That this couple shares a ‘special love.’ How can this be?

A Course in Miracles teaches that all relationships — whether romantic, familial, or friendships are opportunities for healing and spiritual awakening. It emphasizes that love is universal and there is no one person who is inherently more special than another. The idea of “special relationships” (which include marriages, romantic partnerships and even attachments to family and close friends) is seen as a product of the ego, which tries to use love for personal fulfillment rather than as an expression of divine love.

However, ACIM does not discourage marriage or relationships. Instead, it encourages shifting relationships from “specialness” to “holiness.” This means using the relationship as a vehicle for forgiveness, healing, and remembering our shared divine nature. Marriage, is this view, is not about possessing or completing one another, but about joining in a shared purpose of remembering who we truly are and returning to this.

As an officiant of weddings, I see uniting the couple as a sacred commitment to love itself, not just to each other, but to seeing one another as divine beings beyond ego attachment. A symbolic unity, a divine love, and the idea that true love is found in extending that love to all. The ceremony is then a celebration and an expression of this Divine Love.

ACIM weddings, as I see it, is not a binding of two souls but to celebrate the truth that love has no boundaries. Love is not given or taken, nor does it belong to one alone. Love simply is.

I see that the couple has been guided together by true holiness. Not to become whole as they are both already whole, but as a commitment to seeing the light of love in each other, always.

ACIM teaches that love is not something we find outside of ourselves, nor is it something to be earned. Love is our natural state, a gift given us that we freely give to others. The uniting in marriage is an opportunity to reflect this truth: Love is not a possession but freedom. Love is not a contract but a co-commitment to releasing ego and accepting our true united identity as love. Love is not given to one and withheld from another but shared with all. Marriage is agreeing to see this and allow this in each other. A marriage is a gift. 

In your marriage, you vow to see the Divine in the other, to practice forgiveness over judgment and to walk together in love's infinite presence. This sounds amazing!! Who wouldn’t want to celebrate the opportunity to move through this world with someone who is committed to this journey with you. Who doesn’t want to celebrate all that love is!

Love,

Rev. Krista Kemp

Ordained Ministerial Counsellor

Government

of Ontario Accredited Officiant

“When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him, you will see yourself”. (T-8.111.4:1-2)