"I swear, in some ways, abortion and homosexuality are less contentious among my students than the issue of what kind of wedding to have, what kind of wedding banquet to plan. The way that young Protestant couples plan their weddings bodes very ill for the kind of family they are hoping to become. You watch what a wedding is often about these days -- it is about displaying one’s wealth to those one is eager to impress. If you think instead about the scriptural wedding itself, about being the open banquet that one hopes one’s marriage will be, I think weddings would look a lot different than they do. I think they would be on a Sunday morning service where everyone is invited. I think they would look more like a potluck than the kind of catered extravagances toward which even the middle class is climbing. I think the image of the banquet where the blind and the lame are invited, and those who cannot repay us, that image would be one in which to start a marriage."
-Amy Laura Hall
YES! I've been talking with friends for a few years now about why more weddings aren't just part of worship on Sunday mornings. AND how fun it would be to do a potluck, where those in town can bless and bring together what they have for the celebration of marriage. I'm thrilled that my friends' weddings HAVE been about the covenant they're entering into, and I've been blessed by the creativity with which they celebrate it.
Not that I'm planning any weddings of my own! :) But when the time comes, I pray that it's one helluva joyful gathering that's about faithfulness and openness instead of ritz and status quo. You can hold me to that.