The Gift of Deep and Abiding love ...

Today I presided at a wedding that was to be held in Minnedosa in the Church ... then came the fire of February 12th, and the wedding had to move ... eventually we settled on a place ... and a time and we began to move towards the day ...

Family was invited and last week began to gather ... then in the last few days the excitement and anticipation was pushed to the side by worry brought on by a mishap, hospitalization and medical treatment ... Stress and tension levels were high ... BUT ... in the midst of this came the breath of holiness ... the assurance by many that it would be alright ... and today we can look back and say that things turned out okay ...

The wedding went off without a hitch ... everyone who needed to be there was there ... the weather was beautiful and the bride and groom were enveloped in the love of their family and friends gathered to celebrate the love of two friends had found in one another ... It was a great day ...

Later, we gathered in the back yard of a home and with fine food and drink, we celebrated as a community of care and love, the new covenant which only hours before was proclaimed.

As I enjoyed the conversations with people I have come to know and respect over the last few years my mind drifted back to another wedding celebrated in a very similar way some years ago ... a wedding where the bride and groom became friends to our family ... I found myself uttering a silent prayer for them, for as we gathered to celebrate the covenant of love between two people, the other bride and groom were standing with their family and friends in a gathering half a country away to bid farewell to an infant son ...

Today in my reflection during the wedding ceremony, I mused on the deep love that flows between two people in a marriage, the deep love that will be there to carry them through life's trials and challenges, the deep love that will see them through the dark moments and carry them into the glorious dawn that always ends the night, the deep love that Paul spoke of to the Corinthians, and that we proclaim through our faith ...

But today as I celebrated the deep and abiding love of two new friends ... I also prayed for the deep and abiding love of two old friends (and their family) who needed that deep and abiding love to carry them in recent days ...

I counselled the newly married couple that marriage is sometimes hard work ... I was very mindful that in my heart and in my prayers were a couple who have been marking one of life's hardest journeys - the loss of a child ...

I ended my meditation with the words of poet Ann Weems who wrote:

If I could, I'd write for you a rainbow,
and splash it with all the colours of God
and hang it in the window of your being
So that each new God's morning
your eyes would open first
to Hope and Promise

If I could, I'd wipe away your tears
and hold you close forever in shalom.
But God never promised
I could write a rainbow,
Never promised I could suffer for you,
Only promised I could love you.
That I do.

For the couples who have honoured me by asking me to preside at their ceremonies, and who have become cherished friends along this journey of life ... to them I offer the wish that I would, if I could write for you a rainbow ...

... but as the poem says - I can't ... so instead I hold you all in my thoughts and my prayers ... and when life's road takes a challenging turn, I hold you in my thoughts and prayers and offer you my love and care ...

Today we rejoice in the gift of a deep and abiding love that is celebrated when two lives come together as one ... and we give thanks for strength and courage that comes from that deep and abiding love and from the very presence of our God ...

Today has been a day of joy and a day of tears ... dayenu ... dayenu ...