"Och så skulle vi tala med prästen också" - om själavårdssamtal inför vigsel

Abstract

What kind of expectations do the bride and bridegroom have, when they meet their pastor in order to prepare their church wedding? Can this meeting be one of pastoral care and counselling?

When we look at different definitions of pastoral care and counselling, this kind of meeting could easily be considered a central example of how the pastor should care tor his parishioners. It gives the pastor a chance to prepare the couple for their being really and truly involved in the liturgy. The liturgy is there to interpret what will happen to the bride and groom when they leave their parents - who have up till now been the most important people in the couple’s lives (= childhood) - and enter a stage (= adulthood), where they shall be responsible in a mature way.  

This change could be understood with the help of three questions. Where do they come from? What will happen in church? Where are they heading?  

The pastor is a symbolic person, who will serve as a means in this process of change, expressed in the symbols of the liturgy. The symbolic language is close to a dream, which may tell, in images, what is going on at a deep level; an inner change which needs an interpretation in pictures and outer actions in Church.