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Monday, June 27, 2005
One For the Books
I made church history the other day.
In our historic Sanctuary building, a grand example of Victorian architecture in the Greek Revival mode. It's 101 years old now. It's been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.
The local rabbi helped me write a new page for the historical record.
Last Friday he and I co-officiated at a love-fest of a wedding, under a canopy lovingly oveshadowed by the chancel cross. It was the first time ever, folks, for a Jewish wedding in our Presbyterian church. (Well, truth be told, it was a religious blessing on their month-old civil marriage.)
You'll be glad to know the ceiling didn't collapse before, during, or after the ceremony. No, no. Instead the stained glass windows filled the room with an amber glow as the evening sun worked its magic. You'd think God was smiling down a blessing on us all.
Kathy and Bruce did a fair bit of glowing themselves, standing before Rabbi Bennett and me, and 300 or so of their closest friends. Alameda's own version of Who's Who was on hand. And they lingered into the wee hours of Saturday, both to enjoy the fellowship hall reception and to clean up all evidence it had ever happened.
The rabbi was a tad nonplussed when the whole idea of this wedding came up. Heh heh. Good, says I. In a purely fraternal way, of course.
When Bruce and Kathy asked him to join me for the wedding, he said sure. After all, he and I are friends and colleagues in Alameda spiritual stuff. Besides, I'm an ideal straight man for his greased-lightning improvisational humor.
"So," he asks, "Which one of you is Jewish?"
"Both," they say. (Each, it turns out, with a random Christian squatting here or there in the family tree.)
"Then, just curious," he says, "Why have the wedding over there?"
"Because we love that building... And we love Jack!"
Excuse me while I blush. But that is just so cool.
The fact is they do love me, and I love them right back. They've been faithful, generous friends -- think, for example, of gourmet-quality homemade meals for me during Joanne's hospitalization. They're boosters par excellence -- for our church as much as for all things Alameda. And they give great hugs!
This Sunday they showed up for morning worship. Just like they belonged here. And, you know, they do. Everybody does, who wants to.
The door is open, the table's spread.
In our own way, we're following the oldest churches' example. Whenever they celebrated Holy Communion with token bits of bread and sips of wine, they followed it with a full meal. Which they called the Love Feast. Nobody left hungry, nor overstuffed. Everyone at the table was a VIP.
That spirit was the pulse of Friday's wedding. And it's the heartbeat of our church's intention every single day.
posted by Jack Buckley at
3:25 PM
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