The Wedding on Top of the Town

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us…
1 John 5:14-15

Rebekah and I are back from Washington DC after a really great weekend. Just to get away together for a couple of days was in itself an amazing treat. To be in our nation’s capital, sharing a wedding with friends made it that much the sweeter.

First, if you haven’t seen Sunday’s post about the rehearsal, I’d recommend reading, “A Washington Wedding: watching Rebekah in action again.“

The ceremony itself, late Sunday afternoon, took place at The Top of the Town, a venue high above the Potomac River, overlooking the city. The views there are nothing short of spectacular, and I am glad I thought to bring my camera. In fact, standing out on the roof in the cold February sunshine, the nerve center of the world’s most powerful and compelling democracy at my back, I felt a sense of gravitas and moment that moved me. But that will have to anchor a second post, possibly later today.

The wedding was the main event. But a wedding – if you have ever experienced one from the point of view of the preacher – is seldom a simple or straightforward.

The best complement (and there were many) was from a couple who have witnessed many nuptials:

“Your wife was masterful,” they told me. “Somehow she found that impossible balance between dealing with the countless changes and surprises and snafus and personalities, and making sure that everything that must happen did happen – all the while keeping the entire ceremony seamless and on-cue.”
“Not only that,” someone else added, “but I could tell that Rebekah was enjoying it. Her joy and her faith are so real!”
“And that message was wonderful!” A man exclaimed. “I have never heard a wedding message like that!”

*– bride’s grandmother praying over the couple*

Absolutely a working weekend!

So, yes, it was wonderful to be away together, but it was absolutely a professional weekend. Rebekah worked hard, she put several days into preparing, and then – both at the rehearsal and at the ceremony – she pulled out her full complement of skills, improv included, making sure the occasion was not only memorable but an experience where people had no doubt that they had encountered the Love of God, the Presence of Jesus, and the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

At the conclusion of her message, she quoted my post from yesterday. It’s funny how different something sounds when you hear it spoken aloud – especially by a speaker with Rebekah’s gifts.

Belief by itself is not enough to secure tomorrow; instead it must be our belief coupled with hearts open to God’s help.
Derek Maul

The bride’s family live in Wake Forest, but they represent the UK and India and more. The groom’s family are Mexican. Between them, the guests covered all that and more. It was truly an international wedding.

*– Mark Goodacre walking Lauren down “the aisle”*

But all of us in that room were/are unified around a deep love for God and a belief that love is the only practical way forward for the newly-weds and for this fractured world.

Darkness is already defeated. We simply have to live in the truth of the victory.

And that truth, of course, takes more than belief; it takes an active partnership with God.