One feature of weddings here are the photographs. After the service is complete, and the man and woman are now husband and wife, and the congregation has filed out of the church, there comes a time when pictures are taken. The arrangement I like best is when all the relatives on both sides gather round the bride and groom.
This is the power of the Lamb. "The power of the Lamb! A love stronger than hatred. A reconciliation stronger than estrangement. A forgiveness stronger than sin. A joy stronger than sorrow. A peace stronger than violence. A hope stronger than despair. A life stronger than death. The power of the Lamb!" That power can be ours.
Richard Pickering, deputy director of Massachusetts' Plymouth Plantation, says that the real miracle of Thanksgiving was that the Pilgrims and Indians actually had some fun together. Amazingly, their gratitude came after a very harsh winter and a great loss of life. In the midst of great suffering and loss they acknowledged the presence of God.
A hard life. In fact, some proposed a Day of Mourning to honor all those who had perished. But the others said no, a Day of Thanksgiving would be more appropriate. After all, even though half had died, half had NOT. Reason to give thanks to the God who had seen them through. Good for them.
I was called to serve once as a character witness once in a murder trial. The young man on trial was deacon in the church I was serving right out of seminary. He'd assisted in his mother's suicide and had been indicted on a first degree murder charge. I witnessed to the truth as I knew it, as I had experienced it from my perspective. I gave my testimony.
The writer of I John states that "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."(4:4) To have faith means we don't always understand. God is much bigger than we are. God's ways are beyond our ability to understand everything that happens. To have faith is to trust even when things happen that make no sense.
The origins of Mother's Day go back to efforts by Anna Jarvis of West Virginia to honor her own mother, who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. West Virginia was the first state to recognize the holiday, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation establishing Mother's Day as a national holiday.
Love! If there is a more slippery word in the English language, I don't know what it is. I love New York. Don't you just love Margie's new home? I love "da Bears." One day Donna White's son came home from kindergarten and said, "Mom, I have a new girl friend. Patricia and I are in love."
When asked, "What is love?" one child said, "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Another said, "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Poets and writers and mystics through the ages have expressed the meaning of love in countless ways, but none more eloquently than the Apostle Paul, who wrote, "Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy--doesn't seek its own way--bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."