The Journey 282
Read: Mathew 19:1-6
Last Saturday on October 6th, a unique championship event for couples took place at Maine’s Sunday River Ski Resort and the winner was Taisto Miettinen and Kristina Haapanen from Helensiki, Finland. This championship is conducted every year and is attracting a huge crowd. This event is described by some as the most ridiculous championship of all, while some call it as championship of fun while some claim it is all about endurance. The championship event was “The North American Wife Carrying Championship”. What one needs to do in this event is to run with your wife straddled down your neck with her face on your back for a stretch of 260 yards. But when you run with your wife on straddled on your neck it is not a straight race. The man has to cross hurdles like running over a wooden pole or a hurdle, then run through a muddy pool, carry her over through sand traps, then through a water hole. The winner receive cash which is five times the weight of the woman carried and also beer that is also equivalent of woman’s weight. Taisto and Kristina won this championship covering the 260 yards in 52. 58 seconds. Actually there is also a World Championship edition of this event and both Taisto and Kristina are also the world champions. Wow that is a remarkable feat. This wife running race has its origin in the folklore of Finland, where it is presumed that a man Ronkainen, who was a robber would enlist only fit and healthy people in his band and to judge ones fitness, the man who wanted to join his gang had to run a particular distance with a huge sack on their back. There is also a tradition which says that Estonians used to come to Finland to snatch woman from their land to be carried as their wives and this was the way they used to run after snatching a woman. History record that this strange championship was also held in Kerala last year on Jan 1st, 2011 at Thiruvanthapuram, which was titled “Bharyasametham” organized by Ecorun India, a society for creating environmental awareness. Personally I found this event a bit funny but later I realized that though this event comes from a negative folklore, there could be a positive aspect of in this whole unique event, which could be reframed as “Carrying One Spouse” and not just carrying one’s wife. This is the need of the hour, so that church, the society and the world could be strengthened through the institution of marriage and family. What does it mean to carry one spouse?
We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living’ and the portion that we shall use for our mediation is from Mathew 19: 1-6. This is the gospel portion that is read during Holy Matrimony service in the Marthoma Church. It is during this reading of gospel portion that the chief celebrant, joins the hand of bride and groom, symbolic act of joining them together for ever. Holding on to each other and supporting each other for the rest of their life. One of the truths that Jesus teaches us in this portion is very painful truth which needs to be observed in ones family life. In v: 5, He says “ One should leave one’s father and mother and cleave…..”. If marital union has to take place what Jesus is asking the couples to leave one’s father and mother. In my previous edition of journey I had referred this as a sign of “Healthy Detachment” from parents which is very important factor in marital life. But I think there is also another wonderful truth in what our Lord meant in leaving one’s father and mother. What is important in marriage is to consciously move from ones own boundaries, securities and comforts, consciously enter into the space, comforts and needs of ones spouse. It is this concept that can also be found in Ephesians 5, where Paul exhorts Christian couple to submit and love each other. Love and submission is all about the willingness of spouses to leave their comfort zone and securities that they had been accustomed in their home to may be not so “comfortable” zones and those insecure zones of ones spouse. It is tragic that most of the couple who are married, are not willing to enter into the insecure zone of their spouse, and hence cannot understand or comprehend what their spouses go through and as a result are often detached from the life and experience of their spouses. When this happens the actual needs of the spouses may not be taken care of thus making marital life and living more as a social obligation than enjoying and making marital life meaningful to each other. Carrying ones spouse is all about getting into the world of your spouse and understanding his/her need and that is what a true Christian marriage and family is all about.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
Last Saturday on October 6th, a unique championship event for couples took place at Maine’s Sunday River Ski Resort and the winner was Taisto Miettinen and Kristina Haapanen from Helensiki, Finland. This championship is conducted every year and is attracting a huge crowd. This event is described by some as the most ridiculous championship of all, while some call it as championship of fun while some claim it is all about endurance. The championship event was “The North American Wife Carrying Championship”. What one needs to do in this event is to run with your wife straddled down your neck with her face on your back for a stretch of 260 yards. But when you run with your wife on straddled on your neck it is not a straight race. The man has to cross hurdles like running over a wooden pole or a hurdle, then run through a muddy pool, carry her over through sand traps, then through a water hole. The winner receive cash which is five times the weight of the woman carried and also beer that is also equivalent of woman’s weight. Taisto and Kristina won this championship covering the 260 yards in 52. 58 seconds. Actually there is also a World Championship edition of this event and both Taisto and Kristina are also the world champions. Wow that is a remarkable feat. This wife running race has its origin in the folklore of Finland, where it is presumed that a man Ronkainen, who was a robber would enlist only fit and healthy people in his band and to judge ones fitness, the man who wanted to join his gang had to run a particular distance with a huge sack on their back. There is also a tradition which says that Estonians used to come to Finland to snatch woman from their land to be carried as their wives and this was the way they used to run after snatching a woman. History record that this strange championship was also held in Kerala last year on Jan 1st, 2011 at Thiruvanthapuram, which was titled “Bharyasametham” organized by Ecorun India, a society for creating environmental awareness. Personally I found this event a bit funny but later I realized that though this event comes from a negative folklore, there could be a positive aspect of in this whole unique event, which could be reframed as “Carrying One Spouse” and not just carrying one’s wife. This is the need of the hour, so that church, the society and the world could be strengthened through the institution of marriage and family. What does it mean to carry one spouse?
We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living’ and the portion that we shall use for our mediation is from Mathew 19: 1-6. This is the gospel portion that is read during Holy Matrimony service in the Marthoma Church. It is during this reading of gospel portion that the chief celebrant, joins the hand of bride and groom, symbolic act of joining them together for ever. Holding on to each other and supporting each other for the rest of their life. One of the truths that Jesus teaches us in this portion is very painful truth which needs to be observed in ones family life. In v: 5, He says “ One should leave one’s father and mother and cleave…..”. If marital union has to take place what Jesus is asking the couples to leave one’s father and mother. In my previous edition of journey I had referred this as a sign of “Healthy Detachment” from parents which is very important factor in marital life. But I think there is also another wonderful truth in what our Lord meant in leaving one’s father and mother. What is important in marriage is to consciously move from ones own boundaries, securities and comforts, consciously enter into the space, comforts and needs of ones spouse. It is this concept that can also be found in Ephesians 5, where Paul exhorts Christian couple to submit and love each other. Love and submission is all about the willingness of spouses to leave their comfort zone and securities that they had been accustomed in their home to may be not so “comfortable” zones and those insecure zones of ones spouse. It is tragic that most of the couple who are married, are not willing to enter into the insecure zone of their spouse, and hence cannot understand or comprehend what their spouses go through and as a result are often detached from the life and experience of their spouses. When this happens the actual needs of the spouses may not be taken care of thus making marital life and living more as a social obligation than enjoying and making marital life meaningful to each other. Carrying ones spouse is all about getting into the world of your spouse and understanding his/her need and that is what a true Christian marriage and family is all about.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla