The kingdom of God is like many things, Jesus says: a farmer sowing seed, a man hunting treasure, a woman kneading dough, fishermen casting a net, a man forgiven a debt, a wedding guest who forgot his jacket, virgins waiting for a bridegroom, a landowner being generous.
It’s also like a wedding celebration in rural Alabama, at a place called SIFAT.
Gathered on that cloud covered day were friends and family of Laura Elizabeth McAlilly and Nathan Watson Paulk. Thirty yards away a creek rushed by, swollen from the rain which had fallen during the night. Two guitarists played “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee”.
Following the wedding vows, the ministers, a father and a son, led the congregation in The Great Thanksgiving. “The Lord Be with you.” “And also with you,” the congregation spontaneously chanted.
After the words of institution, one of the ministers prayed:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.
By the same Spirit bless Laura and Nate,
that their love for each other
may reflect the love of Christ for us
and grow from strength to strength
as they faithfully serve you in the world.
Defend them from every enemy.
Lead them into all peace.
Let their love for each other
be a seal upon their hearts,
a mantle about their shoulders,
and a crown upon their heads.
Bless them
in their work and in their companionship;
in their sleeping and in their waking;
in their joys and in their sorrows;
in their lives and in their deaths.
Finally, by your grace,
bring them and all of us to that table
where your saints feast for ever in your heavenly home.
Through your Son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father now and forever.
Amen.
As those who were invited to serve the elements came forward, a hush fell over the worshipping congregation. Five persons made their way to the chancel.
From Africa, India, and Thailand, all participating in the ten week Practicum at SIFAT. It was as if the kingdom of heaven had come near, right there on that hillside.
A few Mississippians and a few Alabamians were there.
A bride.
A groom.
Some bread and some wine.
The clouds parted; the sunshine beamed through the trees.
And the kingdom of God had come near.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Words Matter
In just a few days, our family will gather with the Paulk family on a hillside in North Alabama, at a place called SIFAT(Servants in Faith and Technology: www.sifat.org), a camp whose mission and focus is teaching global missions. Our daughter, Laura and her fiancée, Nate, will stand together and exchange those big, important words. Words like for “better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish.” Since 1979, I have been standing, facing others, inviting them into the covenant of Christian marriage.
October 10, I will invite Laura and Nate into a new life together.
To stand before my second born child and invite her and Nate to stake their lives on the covenant of Christian marriage brings a new, significantly deeper meaning to the service of Christian marriage. It’s not that I haven’t given thought to those words before. I have. Every time a young couple comes into my life asking me to be a part of blessing their marriage, I wonder how it will be for them. I am mindful of how little we really know of another person when we exchange those words. I’m mindful of the other four people who will live in that household with a couple, albeit unconscious. Parents, who have shaped, loved, taught and sometimes without intention, even wounded. Every time, I’m mindful of family traditions and that this couple will form their own while negotiating time spent with family. I’m hoping each of them has a heavy dose of forgiveness and a deep understanding of compromise.
Next Saturday, I will ask Nathan Paulk to repeat after me: “I, Nate, take you Laura, to be my wife.” I’ll ask Laura to do likewise, “I, Laura, take you Nate, to be my husband." I keep trying to imagine it; so far, I’ve been unsuccessful without a bit of a lump in my throat. Maybe I’ll keep saying the words this week until the lump disappears.
The Paulk’s and the McAlilly’s. A new family. A new journey. Around us will be gathered the people we love. That love will be made real by big words. And words matter.
October 10, I will invite Laura and Nate into a new life together.
To stand before my second born child and invite her and Nate to stake their lives on the covenant of Christian marriage brings a new, significantly deeper meaning to the service of Christian marriage. It’s not that I haven’t given thought to those words before. I have. Every time a young couple comes into my life asking me to be a part of blessing their marriage, I wonder how it will be for them. I am mindful of how little we really know of another person when we exchange those words. I’m mindful of the other four people who will live in that household with a couple, albeit unconscious. Parents, who have shaped, loved, taught and sometimes without intention, even wounded. Every time, I’m mindful of family traditions and that this couple will form their own while negotiating time spent with family. I’m hoping each of them has a heavy dose of forgiveness and a deep understanding of compromise.
Next Saturday, I will ask Nathan Paulk to repeat after me: “I, Nate, take you Laura, to be my wife.” I’ll ask Laura to do likewise, “I, Laura, take you Nate, to be my husband." I keep trying to imagine it; so far, I’ve been unsuccessful without a bit of a lump in my throat. Maybe I’ll keep saying the words this week until the lump disappears.
The Paulk’s and the McAlilly’s. A new family. A new journey. Around us will be gathered the people we love. That love will be made real by big words. And words matter.
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