Mixed-culture marriage has been a part of my extended family and circle of friends since I was a teenager, normal enough that it never made much of an impression on me — until I visited Jerusalem. Then I couldn’t help noticing! In such an international city, Africa, Europe, the lands Down Under, North and South America, the Far East and the Middle East constantly meet and mingle — and inevitably, fall in love and marry.
Case in point: it was in Jerusalem that I attended a wedding involving an Armenian bagpiper, a Jewish wedding canopy, a blonde bride, and a kilted bridegroom with a New Zealand accent.
Seriously.
Of course, all this kaleidoscopic variety made me intensely curious. What is mixed-culture marriage like, from the inside? How does it work? Does it work, period? And what role (if any) does our common faith play in uniting partners from opposite sides of the world?
Thankfully, I had friends who were willing to answer my questions. Not surprisingly, cross-cultural marriage looks different from couple to couple, but still, their stories have a common theme: It’s the cross that matters when cultures meet.
PS Whether or not you’ve read the article, feel free to hop on over to the extended version of Lawrance and Amanda’s delightful story, which begins here.
Elisabeth Adams 