Chaos in the world and a weekend wedding

Do you ever wonder about our news sources? Two months ago the only headlines you could find on online websites, it seemed, were about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. "THIS JUST IN... TOM... KATIE... SCIENTOLOGY... BLAH... BLAH... BLAH..." And now look. Suddenly tragedy and real-life drama is important enough to report. Hurricane Katrina, the whole Israeli settlement evacuation, etc. I can't say I know a whole lot about what's going on in the news, in depth. I just marvel at the switch in media. I'd much rather hear about the serious stuff that is going on in the world... so then why do we seem to go for months on end hearing only celebrity gossip? Just a few thoughts.

Wedding musings

Job and I just finished another marathon week. It's tough living 30 minutes away from church and family and friends. But on top of our usual weekend church routine, we had Job's brother's wedding to help out with! It began Friday night with the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Lovely Thai food... and, I'm guessing, a typical wedding reharsal. Everything went fine. I was just astonished at how long the wedding rehearsal went. When we got married, our rehearsal was right after vespers, and I think it took 15 minutes. The choir wasn't even there, and I think my dad was the only parent of ours present. Just the wedding party, the clergy, and the videographer. There were no skits to coordinate, no theatrics, no vows to rehearse, no serenades to perfect.

During my brother-in-law's rehearsal, several folks leaned over to me and said, "This must be dejavu for you!" I forced a smile and nodded... and tried not to mention the overall lack of similarities between our wedding and theirs. On Saturday morning, before we zoomed off to the church, Job tried to think of what he, as the best man, would say at his toast. I excitedly grabbed St. John Chrysostem's Homilies, and told him he could read something from it on marriage. After all, St. John said lots of wonderful things on marriage, right? It would be very appropriate (and a good way to squeeze some ancient Orthodox wisdom into the festivities)!

Job took a glance at the passages on marriage and gave the book back to me. I was a bit offended, and asked him what was wrong. I opened the book and read the passages on marriage, and it hit me. None of this really applied to their wedding day. Sadly. If Job had stood up and said, "The two purpose of marriage are procreation and chastity," I think people would have started throwing cold ham and sandwich rolls at him, even more so if he had said: "When you prepare for the wedding, dont' run to your neighbor's houses borrowing extra mirrors, or spend endless hours worrying about dresses. A wedding is not a pageant or a theatrical performance.... Don't hire bands or orchestras; such an expense is excessive and unbecoming. Before anything else, invite Christ. Do you know how to invite Him?" (from p. 35 of Daily Readings from the Writings of St. John Chrysostem).

In all fairness, I can honestly say that the ceremony itself was beautiful. It all took place at the Newberg Friend's Church here in town, and things went off without a hitch. The bride was beaming, and the groom shed some tears, which was very touching. The pastor didn't make it all about himself (seriously, some pastors act like it's "Stand-up Comedy hour with Pastor Jim"), but performed the service in love and sincerity.

Anyways, that was our weekend (oh, did I mention the reception, clean-up, Liturgy the next day, set up for our Feast Day dinner, our Church's Vespers and Feast-Day dinner and then a birthday celebration for my sister Carrie...? Yeah... busy). Good thing we have 5 days to recurperate and prepare for this next weekend, whatever it may bring! God be with you all!