"Declare His glory among the nations"
1 Chronicles 16:24
The family and I went to a wedding this weekend. It was a fairly small, but lovely and elegant affair. We know both the bride and groom very well ~ one of those weddings where we could have sat either on the bride's or the groom's side!
Weddings are always such a celebration. Joy and love everywhere you look, as well as wonderful traditions ~ some rooted in faith, some rooted in family, some rooted in culture. But some weddings celebrate God more than others. Obviously, a wedding with a justice of the peace is not as spiritual as a wedding in a church. A wedding that does not include God is really more of a legal contract in the eyes of the state, and less of a covenant and a promise in the eyes of God.
But in this wedding, God was everywhere. And because both of these amazing young people attend our church, our pastor performed the ceremony. But the first thing he did was ask the groom's father to open the ceremony with a prayer. I'd never seen that done before, and I thought it was such a nice touch. The groom was about to take on a new role in his life ~ not just "husband," but spiritual leader for his new wife. So to have his father ~ the man who had been his role model all his life ~ pray for them, seemed very appropriate.
But there was something very interesting about that prayer. The groom's family is Romanian-American. The groom, whom I'll call Jason ~ cuz that's his name ~ was born here, but his parents were not. They've both been here for many, many years, and speak perfect English, and yet, Jason's father chose to pray in Romanian. I'm not sure why... Maybe he just feels more comfortable with his first language.
And so, not knowing any Romanian, I'm not sure what he prayed. And yet it was beautiful. His voice rose and ebbed, with the emotion of his words, and I felt carried along, in total agreement with him. I felt a little like I did when my Awesome and Amazing kids were little. They would close their eyes and pray absolute gibberish. It was just between them and God, and I just felt privileged to be allowed to listen. There was such wisdom in Jason's father knowing that even though most of us wouldn't understand him, we could still be in agreement with him. That is really the essence of praying together. Choosing to be in agreement with one another.
There was, however, one word that I understood in that prayer. It wasn't a word that has to do with marriage, or with children growing up and moving on. But at the same time, it was a word that has everything to to with that. And it's the reason I knew I was in agreement with his prayer. It's a beautiful word in the English language, but it was made more lovely to me because clearly it transcends language. It's a word that I think I need to use more often in my prayers ~ perhaps in all of my prayers, because it brings it all back to God... all that He has done for us and all that He's doing, and all that He's worth... So I joyfully join with Isaia in saying:
~ "Gloria" ~
Congratulations, Jason and Ari ~ Many blessings in your new life together! And thank you, Isaia, for your beautiful prayer.
~ "every knee will bow, and every tongue acknowledge
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father" ~
Philippians 2:10-11
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