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Women’s Ministries Programs
Theme:
“Messages of Love”
Love for the Second Time Around
By
Christine Poff
June – Worship 2008
Decorations
Use large mason jars for centerpieces. Fill them with white curling ribbon which has been cut into eight–inch pieces and then curled. Randomly place plastic wedding rings and other small wedding items inside the jars along the outer edge so they are visible. Put a glass votive holder with a white candle in the top of the jar. Use a curly ribbon bow at the top of the jar. Scatter wedding confetti around the base of the centerpiece and down the center of the table.
Program Outline
Welcome and Announcements
Activities (See below)
Chorus, “O How He Loves You”
Speaker or Panel on “Love the Second Time Around”
Prayer
Scripture Reading, Ephesians 5:21–33 from The Message
Devotional, “Another Wife”
Repeat Chorus, “O How He Loves You”
Benediction
Speaker or Panel
Invite a speaker, or set up a panel of women who are married for the second time, to discuss what they have faced in their marriage. They might want to discuss some of the trials of having a blended family and how they handled these challenges.
Activities
Wedding Memories
Ask each woman to write a wedding memory on a 3 x 5 card. It can be a memory of their own wedding, their children or of their mother’s wedding. This can be humorous, romantic or tender. Have the women guess whose memory is being read.
Wedding Scramble
Unscramble the following list of wedding things or people commonly found at a wedding ceremony and reception. The answers are in bold.
1. MORGO Groom
2. GRIN Ring
3. GREALCMNY Clergyman
4. RESHUS Ushers
5. TAREGR Garter
6. SMIEDSIBRAD Bridesmaids
7. STIGF Gifts
8. WORFSEL Flowers
9. KACE Cake
10. TENBAMS Best Man
11. REBID Bride
12. CREI Rice
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Devotions
Another Wife
Most of us are familiar with the story of Abraham and Sarah. We know that God established the nation of Israel through them and their son, Isaac. However, once Isaac enters the scene in Genesis, Abraham and Sarah fade into the background.
We do know that Sarah died at the age of 127. Genesis 23:3 says that “Abraham mourned and wept for her.” His much–loved wife was gone and Abraham was grieved by her passing. Abraham had experienced an exciting life with Sarah. They had left Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the great unknown and faced many dangers together. But they had also experienced God’s deliverance and continued guidance. Their lives together had been rich and full. Abraham must have desperately missed Sarah when she died.
Maybe some of you have experienced the loss of a spouse. You know that you lost not only companionship but intimacy. Great loneliness crowds in, and you miss the one who has been a part of your life for many years. It is now impossible to find out what they might think about something or to share the joys and frustrations of everyday living.
Genesis 24:1 says that Abraham was a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He had his son, Isaac, the child of promise, to comfort him. However, Isaac got married and moved away, intensifying his loneliness. So we should not be surprised when we read in Genesis 25:1:2, “Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.” We go on to read that they lived together for many years and she bore him six sons.
Keturah would have had to live with the knowledge of Abraham’s special love for Sarah, for she was his first wife. She would have known Abraham also loved Ishmael, his son by Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid. But we can assume that he had a different kind of love for Keturah and their six sons than he had for Sarah—love for the second time around. The role of the second wife requires patience and understanding. We can learn from Keturah and the way she lived this role of unselfish love. It takes a special ability to love totally for love’s sake as the second wife. She could never demand that Abraham forget Sarah and think only of her.
We can assume that she was able to do this and find her own place in her husband’s life. We find no evidence that she, or her sons, were upset when they received a lesser portion of Abraham’s estate upon his death.
Keturah accepted her role, and in so doing, became a part of God’s promise to Abraham to be the father of many nations. Her children and their descendants, as well as Ishmael and his descendants, became those many nations in fulfillment of that promise. She found joy and was the recipient of God’s blessings in her life!
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