this is no longer my blog

Several months ago, when I was still in the distant land of Internship, I received a call on my cellphone. Of course, as is too often the case, I did not have my cell phone with me at the time. So, when I returned from whatever it was that I was doing, and saw my cell phone, there was a voice mail message waiting for me.

I listened to the message and, I have to admit, was a bit floored. It was definitely NOT a call that I had been expecting. In fact, I didn't even think that it was a possibility. Two good friends and classmates from seminary were getting married and they wanted me to be the assisting minister at the ceremony.

I wasn't floored that they were getting married. If I remember correctly, they were engaged before we all left the Mothership for internship. So, I knew that there wedding was a future reality. What floored me was that they asked me to be the assisting minister.

You see, I had already talked to mutual friends who had been asked to be involved in the wedding. I had come to the conclusion that since I had not already been asked, that I wasn't going to be in the wedding. I was okay with that. I figured they had families and friends, and both of them being seminary students they had a plethora of people to be involved in the wedding in some fashion. I would have been happy just to be there. But here was this phone call, after I had come to the conclusion that I would not be in the wedding, asking me to be involved. And not as an usher or guest book attendant or a reader or something like that. But as assisting minister!

Well, anyway, the wedding was just this past weekend. It was a great day. The wedding was well planned and put together. The reception was great fun, and I had a good time enjoying the open bar and dancing the night away (while still dressed in my clergy collar). I decided I was not going to let the fact that I was dressed in a clergy collar affect the way that I would celebrate. I could have taken the collar off, but I decided not to do that either. The photographer followed me around for a large part of the evening, because I think she thought the fact that the "pastor" was dancing and having a great time was too good to not take pictures of. A friend told me that they had figured out where they needed to stand to get in pictures: with the small children who were there, or next to me.

So, congratulations M and K! I have been blessed to know each of you individually, and am delighted and thankful for how much happier and fulfilled the two of you have seemed since you've been together. As someone mentioned at the reception, with the way marriage has become so impermanent, it is always great to see a marriage that you think will last. This is definitely one of them. God bless you as you begin your lives together. It was a great honor for me to be able to participate in your ceremony.