Many years ago, I did a sermon entitled Sex on a Ladder, which we will return to in the next few weeks, but for this series, I wanted to expand on that teaching by going wider, deeper, and further. So, to begin, we are going on an odyssey adventure: A Brief History of Marriage.

We have some fun and wild places to explore. History is a strange and fascinating beast, so we will start by debunking eight myths about the history of marriage (for instance, did marriage come about to protect or oppress women?). Then, we will explore why the Church was largely silent about marriage for 1200 years and the four main reasons the Church got into the business of solemnizing marriages (I am confident they will surprise you).

Along the way we will learn about the most common case brought before courts in the Middle Ages (it has to do with marriage) and the rather uncomfortable ritual men had to undergo to annul a marriage (Kristen won’t even let me share the more "juicy" details of the ritual).

We will of course land in our present day to discover the two social factors and pressures that are placing more tension on marriages today than ever before.