Faith and Reason: A conversation about religion, spirituality and ethics

William and Kate's wedding really about us: Archbishop

The royal wedding -- a boon to commerce in England as every T-shirt and souvenir mug salesman knows -- is really a boon to humanity, says the head of the Church of England.

The marriage officiant, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams himself, is out with a video on the significance of the marriage of William and Kate.

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His kind comments about the "unpretentious" prince and future princess are no surprise. More interesting: To Williams' thinking, this is a wedding, beyond the celebration of mystery and delight that two people find in each other, that is about all of us. Williams says:

... A marriage is good news because it says something so deep about our humanity. And it tells us that we can have grounds for hope: that there are still people around who want to spend their lives with each other, who want to make this great act of generous commitment to one another. And so, everybody around the world will have some sense of the commitments that are possible.

People who are witnessing a wedding are bound to ask themselves that if Prince William and Catherine can make that sort of commitment, if these people can share that sort of generosity, perhaps I'm capable of more generosity and more commitment, more faithfulness, more purposefulness than I ever thought. Perhaps there's more to me than I ever realized.

And, like the world's most famous bride and groom, you don't even have to promise to obey. It's not yet known, however, whether the couple's tampering with the vows extends beyond judicious editing. Still, vows have generally become a free-for-all these days.

Sheri Hunter, who covers religion and other beats for The Oakland Press in Michigan, tells me that the promises to stand by in sickness and in health, rich or poor are also increasingly passed. Hunter says she's been to weddings where ...

traditional vows were axed in lieu for more, how do I say it, attainable ones? For instance, promising to be faithful was replaced with "always be in each other's corner."

The "corner" had been a popular vow choice for a while. PoemHunter will take you to a version by Steven Taylor:

The vows they take, the love they share,
the future henceforth they now they swear
that come what may, they face as one, ..
that for each other they will care,
that in each other's corner,
they will constantly be there

this is what God has planned
and I pray both of them
their love will,
the universe expand

Sounds almost like the Archbishop...Almost.

DO YOU THINK... William and Kate, by wedding this week, expand the universe for us all? Have you heard vows that stirred your heart -- or made you wince? What does seeing someone else wed say to you about your life?

See photos of: Prince William, Royal Wedding, Westminster Abbey