This being the week of our daughter Linzee’s wedding, I’ve got marriage on my mind. You hear people say they always cry at weddings. Why? What is that about? Do we cry because were so happy for the bride and groom? Yes! That’s certainly a big part of it. But is there more? I asked Renee and she said, “It’s because of the wonder and beauty of love itself. It’s because of the way a wedding acknowledges the passage of time from one generation to the next.” Maybe we cry because just the thought of uniting of two lives into one with such permanence is something that inspires us. It moves us to tears. Maybe it’s because a wedding is a celebration of life itself…all life…and all that is good in it.

            Maybe we shed some tears because those of us who are married are reminded of our own wedding day…its joy, its hope, its meaning, its moment. Maybe we do so because in experiencing someone else’s wedding, overflowing with hopes and dreams, we are reminded, and maybe convicted, of all the times we’ve let our marriage and our partner down. Reminded of how far we’ve fallen from the love we felt that day. Reminded that, at times, we’ve failed.  We’ve not always been true to our partner, to God—or even ourselves. In the days that have ensued since our big day, we’ve forgotten the vows we so valiantly spoke to each other…much less forgotten to live them.

            Maybe those of us who aren’t married shed some tears because we are longing for this day to arrive in our own lives. We yearn for the depth of love, the depth of intimacy, of sharing and caring and companionship that a wedding represents. We want to be loved by someone that deeply, that wonder-fully…with such loyalty, such dedication and maybe most of all, with such abandon.

            Maybe we aren’t feeling any of these feelings at all. Maybe we cry at weddings because they are like a beacon of light shining into the midst of lives that often seem dark and dreary…a wedge of joy thrust down into the plethora of other not-so-happy emotions we experience in the course of our days. They give us permission to believe again…in love, in life, in ourselves, in others. They call forth the very finest and best from our souls. They represent life at its fullest, its richest and deepest. They invite and challenge us to believe again…to live for all that is good and right and worthy.

            So why do we cry at weddings? Maybe it’s all of the above. 

So glad we’re together–In Christ, 

Pastor Jerry

Hmm.

             ”A choir is only as good as its director!” choral director Paul J. Christiansen taught me. It will only be as sensitive to intonation, only be committed to excellent diction, only be as persnickety about balancing the parts, only be as committed to the highest of musical standards over all—as is its director. Does this also apply to a pastor and his/her congregation? I think so. My members will only be as dedicated to their church as I am. No more. They will only be as passionate about living their faith in the world as I am. No more. They will only be as committed to sharing your love through their lives as I am. No more. They will only be as giving of themselves–their time, their energy and their resources–as I am. No more. After all, I am the director of this choir, right God? Hmm.

            Yet, while these statements are true, there’s more to this! I often see more of these things in my members than I see in myself. I see greater commitment, deeper faithfulness, and more generous giving in them than in me. Hmm. As you know, God, this has a powerful effect upon me. I am both convicted and inspired by this and it moves me. It leads me on. They lead me…and I’m the director. 

So glad we’re together–in Christ, 

PJ 

PS: See you Sunday!

I would like to make a request of you. If there is someone whom you would like to share my journal, please direct them to Nativity’s website; there they will be able to enter PJ’s Journal.  I would be pleased if you would share the journal with your family members or others who may have once been a part of Nativity and are now grown and living elsewhere in the world. All are welcome! 

By the way, if there’s something here that you think might benefit someone you know who doesn’t do email, please print them a copy and pass it on. 

 THE PIONEERING SPIRIT 

HEBREWS 12: 1-2  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, {2} looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 

The pioneering spirit. What is it but a zest for life, a courage that rises to the challenge! It seeks to stretch out, to advance toward that which lies ahead regardless of what I might encounter. It is a willingness to leave behind life as I know it. And more. It is the willingness to leave behind life as I have created it to be. Yet, it is more than a willingness, it is a will, a strong will to proceed forward at all costs…to cover new ground…to blindly believe there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome. It is to go where none…and certainly not I…have gone before. It is the dry, methodical commitment to live by faith. It is the juicy, refreshing, and effervescent joy that bubbles to the daily surface of a life lived deeply within the realm of grace. For me personally,this means living by faith in God…a God whom I cannot see or sense. For me, it is striving to be the person I dare to believe God created me to be…with the purposes I think God may have in mind for my life and this day…as opposed to living life in the realm of the knowable, the predictable, the familiar, and the cherished. (In other words, a world of my own creation.) Am I up to it? More importantly, am I up to it today?!  At least, I’m going to start it with this intention. It may not last long…but maybe just a little longer than yesterday.

So glad we’re together–in Christ, 

Pastor Jerry