A February Wedding

I was expecting something a bit more wintry when I woke up this morning, but so far we have rain.  Actually, we have a break in the rain, although the radar shows unsettled weather all around us.  There was talk in the winter weather warning/advisory of gusty winds, but so far, they have not arrived.  The upside:  we still have power, heat, and internet.  The downside:  still none of the winter weather that warms my heart (the kind that doesn't linger but looks pretty as it drifts by the window).

Because I knew of the threat of wintry weather and potential outages, I finished my seminary work that is due over the next few days, and I've done the weekly reminder e-mail to my online students.  Whether or not we go to church may depend on what kind of wintry mix arrives in the next few hours.  I don't want to risk icy roads, and I can't really tell what's happened overnight.

Happily, we were able to get to the wedding of a dear Create in Me friend yesterday.  Her wedding was at 4, which is a perfect time.  The reception was a delicious meal of tacos, followed with cupcakes.  We had a variety of wines from Michigan, where the bride and groom lived originally.

Long ago, they went to high school together, although they weren't together then.  They reconnected at a 45 year high school reunion, and relationship has deepened in the last 5+ years.  I didn't know the bride, my Create in Me friend, when she was married to her first husband, but I do remember a conversation before she reconnected with the man who is now her husband, a conversation where she despaired of ever finding love.

As I watched them make their vows, I thought about what a different station in life I'm in now.  Once, I went to several weddings a year, but now it's a much more rare occasion.  In some ways, that made yesterday even more joyous.

I will say that this wedding is the first where we have celebrated communion, and the bride and groom did the pouring of the wine from the chalice into each person's tiny up.  I was impressed with their compusure.

In fact, one reason, apart from the weather, that I'm not as worried about going to church this morning is that the wedding service yesterday had the important parts of worship, along with joining of two lives together.  In some ways, it seems a fitting metaphor for what worship should do every time we participate:  join lives together in a larger, deeper mystery.