This is a day of a new beginning... a student pastor in my district, Crystal Hughes, is marrying Chris Ruddell at 4:00 pm at our Corder church, and I am bound and determined to get there before 3:30 so I will have some sort of a chance of getting a seat with Barbara, my assistant. The gift I purchased for them is simply impossible to wrap, so I bound it with ribbon and put a big bow on top. I think they will understand.
Corder has been a student appointment for over 50 years, with sporadic times when a retiree has served. This church I know pretty well, having weathered my first major issue as a d.s. here in September 2005, when it was discovered that the then-student pastor had wrecked the parsonage to the tune of upwards of $30,000. The church's response was, I believe word for word, "we will get it ready for the next student," which they did, and then after that pastor came Crystal. She has been marvelous for this church and the one yoked with it, the Alma Federated Church.
This wedding reminds me of my sister's wedding back in 1963. I was eight and the flower girl, and witness to the making of a wedding first hand. Ellen's gown was purchased through Montgomery Ward, for $29.99, and my seamstress mother made it over into something that looked like a French original. She also made an identical gown for my Barbie. The wedding was held in our home church, Oak Grove Methodist, down south of Carbondale, out in the country 10 miles. I remember doing something a few months before the wedding that Chris and Crystal may have done as well--since the sanctuary was quite small, our family went to the church and sat right next to each other in the pew, and then kept moving down to see how many people could sit in one pew. Seventeen, I recall. That helped with how many invitations to send. When the wedding came, the church was packed, with many standing in the back. There was a cake and punch reception in the basement; I am not sure where the indoor restrooms had been installed yet or not.
The only point of this blog post, really is to celebrate the joy of marriage. I am reminded so much of a marriage hymn in the UMH , the text by Brian Wren, When Love is Found:
When Love is found and hope comes home,
sing and be glad that two are one.
When love explodes and fills the sky,
praise God and share our Makers joy.
When love has flowered in trust and care
build both each day, that love may dare
To reach beyond homes warmth and light
to serve and strive for truth and right.
When love is tried as loved ones change,
hold still to hope though all seems strange,
Till ease returns and love grows wise
through listening ears and opened eyes.
When love is torn and trust betrayed,
pray strength to love till torments fade,
Till lovers keep no score of wrong,
but hear through pain loves Easter song
Praise God for love, praise God for life
Corder has been a student appointment for over 50 years, with sporadic times when a retiree has served. This church I know pretty well, having weathered my first major issue as a d.s. here in September 2005, when it was discovered that the then-student pastor had wrecked the parsonage to the tune of upwards of $30,000. The church's response was, I believe word for word, "we will get it ready for the next student," which they did, and then after that pastor came Crystal. She has been marvelous for this church and the one yoked with it, the Alma Federated Church.
This wedding reminds me of my sister's wedding back in 1963. I was eight and the flower girl, and witness to the making of a wedding first hand. Ellen's gown was purchased through Montgomery Ward, for $29.99, and my seamstress mother made it over into something that looked like a French original. She also made an identical gown for my Barbie. The wedding was held in our home church, Oak Grove Methodist, down south of Carbondale, out in the country 10 miles. I remember doing something a few months before the wedding that Chris and Crystal may have done as well--since the sanctuary was quite small, our family went to the church and sat right next to each other in the pew, and then kept moving down to see how many people could sit in one pew. Seventeen, I recall. That helped with how many invitations to send. When the wedding came, the church was packed, with many standing in the back. There was a cake and punch reception in the basement; I am not sure where the indoor restrooms had been installed yet or not.
The only point of this blog post, really is to celebrate the joy of marriage. I am reminded so much of a marriage hymn in the UMH , the text by Brian Wren, When Love is Found:
When Love is found and hope comes home,
sing and be glad that two are one.
When love explodes and fills the sky,
praise God and share our Makers joy.
When love has flowered in trust and care
build both each day, that love may dare
To reach beyond homes warmth and light
to serve and strive for truth and right.
When love is tried as loved ones change,
hold still to hope though all seems strange,
Till ease returns and love grows wise
through listening ears and opened eyes.
When love is torn and trust betrayed,
pray strength to love till torments fade,
Till lovers keep no score of wrong,
but hear through pain loves Easter song
Praise God for love, praise God for life
in age or youth, in husband, wife.
Lift up your heart let love be fed
through death and life in broken bread
Amen
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