Epic Love

A learned colleague once said to me, "the liturgy of the church never ceases; we just step into it and join in when we can."

This has been so evident over the past month! After Holy Week, Easter, and Ordinations, we've had four weddings over the past four weekends. It is true: the liturgy of the Church never stops. So if you intend to be part of this scene, you better be ready for the feasting!

In each of the weddings we've sung for over this past month, there has been an "abundance of acclamation —" capped off by that most American of acclamations, the sound of applause. But one thing that has been most remarkable, at every one of these nuptial gatherings, is the way this accolade has unfolded: it started out like a gentle rainfall, and turned, dramatically, into a downpour of affirmation.


There's something very deliberate that takes place when an assembly behaves like this. They are saying something in their applause. Listen closely to the cascading chaos, and you might hear the words: "Love has the final say!" "Even sadness and death and failure cannot prevail!"

Yesterday, two cherished friends, Susan Bigelow and Drew Reynolds, committed themselves to a life of vowed fidelity. Their liturgy, like those of the couples from weeks before, was a triumph of grace, of saying "yes" to vows in the face of a culture that simply cannot fathom such a stance.

Love is, indeed Lord of heaven and earth.

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