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Saturday, October 04, 2008
My Boy Is Married!
It was as close as I've ever been to a bride and groom when I wasn't officiating at the wedding.
Joanne and I sat just six feet away from our son Robert and his beautiful bride Dorothy. My sole responsibilities were to be suitably proud and to stay more or less composed until the recessional. And it worked!
The wedding took place on the lovely lawn of a ranch in the hills above the Napa Valley. The place was featured recently in House Beautiful magazine, the handiwork of Robert and Dorothy's employer. Now the decor was enhanced by Dot's elegant gifts for interior design and flower arranging.
The bride and groom's physical glory -- handmade gown and suit, natural good looks, slender bodies thanks to pre-wedding adrenaline -- was far outshone by the beauty of their home-grown vows. At that point I had no problem at all maintaining pride, plus appreciation, for their mutual love and respect and absolute commitment. Where I did struggle a tad was in the composure department. Fortunately, the best man had distributed monogrammed hankies beforehand.
At the rehearsal the young woman officiating said she hoped I would approve of her work, since she had just a one-day license to perform this wedding. I assured her I would only cheer her on and probably learn something new to use in future weddings myself. She wasn't so sure about that, but yes indeed, I discovered more than one pleasant "aha" in her simple, eloquent, graceful performance.
I tell you this not only as a proud father, but also as a grateful pastor. The Bible calls the church "the bride of Christ." How lovely. And I am repeatedly taught, by church members in our life together, as at my son's wedding, something wonderfully new -- an insight, a method, an apt turn of phrase -- that I could never imagine or discover on my own.
Thanks be to God. And to God's church.
posted by Jack Buckley at
12:47 PM
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