two Weddings and Advent
Today begins with me waking up to realize that my only daughter begins a journey into contentment with her life partner. We are all preparing for this celebration at 3 pm today. As a mother, I pray that he will treat her with the love and strength that we have for her beautiful soul. Each of them have been hurt in a previous relationship and were wary to consider trying marriage again. But they have decided that risking love again is worth trying. As a minister, I recognize that if I officiate well that hardly anyone will remember that I was there at all. Because those who gather around them are there to celebrate this new beginning and are simply a captive audience for me. That is why I don’t do sermons in weddings. It feels like stealing people’s time that they want to give to the couple that they are celebrating. And on Sunday I am officiating another ceremony with two beloved people who unexpectedly found love in their later years. Each of them had lost their spouse and never expected to love again. As I officiate their small ceremony, we will celebrate the rare gift of a second chance for love.
Often when we have suffered a loss or been disappointed in love, we build up walls to protect our hearts from the ache that comes from deep and abiding love that has been lost. I read an interesting article about thanksgiving that asked us to give thanks for ten terrible things. John Pavlovitz wrote about giving thanks for grief because “It is a blessing to have had someone worth missing.” If you would like to read this interesting take on things (we usually associate with the negative) to give thanks for click here. If nothing else, it will give you a great conversation starter with other people.
As we consider risky love, we approach our season of Advent. This is a season of anticipation. It is when we are reminded that the darkness can never shut out the light. Even though we may have faced hurt and failure, there is still the possibility that we might find the next thing that we can not see, but that will bring us great love. We hold this hope this Sunday as we consider the beginning of the season where God took an incredible risk to understand the fragility of the human experience and live among us. This miracle is part of the Holy Mystery of the Christmas story. I look forward to traveling through Rome with you as we consider the setting of the Incarnation story.
The first Sunday of Advent is considered the New Year of the Christian calendar. So Happy New Year my friends!
I love you and God loves you.
