The Wedding Day
Last week was a one-post week. For the most part, the reason was that Lisa's mom was getting married Sunday and that kept us hopping. Lisa did a huge amount of work to help her mom with the big day. As usual, she did a perfect, beautiful job. The event was elegant and planned down to almost every detail. The seating arrangements were a bit off, as the bride had neglected to give herself a place to sit during the reception, but we found her a chair and decided to seat her next to the groom.I had never preached a wedding sermon before so I kept it nice and short. But I enjoyed the opportunity. There are some mothers-in-law who would probably make this a difficult task, but I love Lisa's mom a LOT and it was such a joy to stand in front of her beaming smile and share a message about God, the Creator and Embodiment of love.
It was an exhausting day, but an absolutely beautiful one. James looked incredibly handsome in his suit and did a perfect job of walking his Grammie down the aisle. Lisa and her sister were radiant bridesmaids. The blustery wind of Saturday had dissipated and the sun shone warmly on us all. And we even got home early enough to enjoy the traditional Sunday nappage.
We had to miss church for the ceremony. Voting for the elder-nominees began yesterday and I suppose it's time I mentioned that I'm one of them (especially since Blake outed me in the comments from my last post...A's fans...what're ya gonna do?). I haven't written about it here for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I've been dreading the hard time that Cecil is going to give me. I still don't plan to write about it much, but I do have to say that I'm proud of my church for letting a divorced man get this far in the process. It tells me that we are moving away from our legalistic tendencies of the past, that we are trying to be the church God wants us to be rather than the church we think He should want us to be. Any evidence I see of a retreat from man-made laws is quite welcome.
The "voting" process will last a few weeks and I promise to keep my blog family informed as we go along. Above all, I pray that God puts the right leaders in place at College for this time in its life.
posted by Thurman8er @ 9:10 AM
6 Comments:
Steve, sorry for blowing your big announcement. So in my Sunday class, we talked about when Jesus put his hands in a palm tree and got nothing, but leaves. This made my class think about our church and the actions we do that are just tradition and the actions that we do that produces fruit. For you, this church, as a whole, saw something in you that told him that you are man that can produce much fruit for the Lord. Whether you become an elder or not, if you continue to produce fruit, you will do great things for the Lord no matter what you are titled.
Oh and one more thing, Steve. To answer your question of "A's fans...what're ya gonna do?" Well you can always repent and join the green side. It is never too late to join. :)
Whoa . . . this one took me by surprise! Not the wedding, as I don't know Lisa or her mom, but that you are being considered as an elder. I, too, am happy the College church has moved beyond that legalistic ruling against divorced / remarried people. One of the elders at Long Beach is divorced ... and a wonderful shepherd, in my opinion. I must say, though, after spending a certain percentage of my life that is beyond my math abilities to actually calculate in ministry, about the last thing in the world I would seek is becoming an elder! However, the one thing I very much want to do in my community of faith is to shepherd others ... just don't want the title and certainly don't want to have to attend elder's meetings ... a complete waste of time!
Math Bro - Go back, its a trick! Wow, that is great news Steve and the fact that your church has made the leap beyond a false doctrine that has caused so much heart ache is so encouraging. I know you'll make a great elder because you know what it is like to be in pain and wasn't that what Jesus was all about - meeting people at their point of pain.
I heard a guy describe being an elder like this:
Some days being an elder is like being a "regular member" of a church. Then there are times when being an elder will consume your time, energy, and soul.
My prayers are with you, Lisa, and the College Church.
As I often do...........ditto Cecil's words. God bless you, Steve. I know that if you were an elder at my church, you'd be the first one I'd go to if I had a problem because I would know you'd understand and that you'd be ministering from a "beem there" stance.
I'll take a wedding any day over a funeral. Why don't the serve champagne at funerals?
Randy, I shall insist that they serve champagne at MY funeral!
It's my humble opinion that a lot of the "elder work is done by "de facto" elders!
I only hope and pray I shall live long enough to see true unity in the church. It would be amazing if all were required to read Eph 4:1-3 and just put a different emphasis on the traditions that separate us, and instead, put humbleness,gentleness, patience and love at the top. It's the legalistic traditions that keep the church "separated". There is no salvation in those traditions!
Steve, you already know my sentiments about the elder selection. My prayers are with you, and with US as a congregation.
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