The seal & the ministry
Covenant of Truth
Rev. Eric Gumkowski · Plum, Pennsylvania
The minister
Called to stand with couples as they make a vow God will hold them to.
I live in Plum, a suburb of Pittsburgh. I am a Christian. Christ is King — over the nations, and over a wedding day that looks small only to people who have forgotten what a covenant is.
Couples ask me to officiate because they do not want a stranger with a script, and they do not want a ceremony emptied of God so that no one in the room is offended. If you want the old words, spoken with care, I will give you that.
I will meet you, pray with you if you will have it, and write a rite that is yours without ceasing to be Christian. On the day I will be early, calm, and clear — so you can be present to the vow.
What I believe about marriage
One man, one woman, one Lord
Marriage is God’s idea: a man and a woman leaving father and mother, becoming one flesh, and keeping faith until death. It images Christ and the Church. That is why the vows are heavy, and why they are worth keeping.
I officiate Christian marriages. I will not rewrite the rite to flatter the age. I will, with gladness, write it so that your particular story — how you met, who you are burying, who you are becoming — is spoken inside the truth, not instead of it.
The emblem
The seal of the ministry
- The crown. Christ the King — the marriage is lived under His rule.
- The cross. The love that holds a household together is cruciform, not merely romantic.
- The rings. Two lives joined, without end in this world except death.
- The olive. Peace in the house, and the long mercy of God over it.