re: Weddings

This may be a little known fact: I love weddings.

Another interesting fact is that I witnessed more people crying at my marriage to La than and other I’ve been too. There were literally people coming up to me afterwards who told me that they usually don’t cry at weddings, but that they did at ours.

It probably didn’t help that there was a six foot tall, one hundred ninety pound groom crying at the time [that would be me].

There are certain passages of scripture that imprint themselves onto the fabric of my soul. For the longest time [and even now] Christ’s sermon on the mount was one of those [particularly the section wherein He reminds me that whatever I do to the least of these, I do unto him]. Another is Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he writes about the relationship of a husband and a wife as a reflection of Christ’s relationship to the Church.

I don’t care much for the fluff of weddings. My favorite are where Christ centered sermons are preached and wonderful hymns sung. My favorite part of the wedding is to see the rear doors of the sanctuary open, to see the bride in radiant white burst through, and to see her walking towards the man who has decided to die to on life so that his bride might live for a new one.

When La walked in, I thought of Christ who has pursued me. I remembered how I loved her before she cared for me – and how Christ did the same. I remembered how much more deep His love is [however] and that while I don’t deserve it, it is mine for the taking. I wept because I was reminded that one day Christ will come again to claim His bride – His bride that He has washed, and cultivated, and loved.

The difference is that He has never been the one to stand and wait for her to walk down an aisle. He’s the one who runs out of the Holy place to bring His bride out of the whore house that she’s decided to make her home. He’s the one who purchases her freedom from that life, who makes her clean and who promises that he will keep her forever.

For me, the wedding isn’t about all the pomp. It’s about the representation of Christ coming to His bride, of his whispering of redemption, and of His bold actions to break his bride from her captor.

Today, I’m sitting in Vail, CO. It’s the furthest I’ve ever traveled for a wedding.
In two hours, I will see a picture of the reality that my spirit longs for.

[***Of note: New header; expect them to change as often as the seasons as long as my wife continues to be as interested in the blog as I am. Soon to come: a blog on running - keep a lookout].