To Kneel and Kiss the Ground

Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.--Rumi

Tonight I had the great honor, the amazing privilege of officiating at five different marriages!  Two by two, they arrived at the County Clerk's Office.  Two by two, they shared their stories, their hopes, their gratitude.  And two by two, they turned in love to say vows, to share rings, to celebrate life-long commitment.  As the sun set over the Santa Cruz mountains--red, purple, orange and yellow--five couples reminded the rest of us how sweet life really is!

Tonight I give thanks for the five couples, for their patience and for their courage: Catherine and Andrea, Jimmy and Aaron, Sally and Holly, Kim and Kelly, Luis and Juan.  They were accompanied by elderly parents and young children.  They wept, almost all of them, when making their promise "in sickness and in health."  And they touched me with their humble resolve and fierce tenderness.  I know--as they surely do--that marriage will stretch and test them, as it will delight and bless them.  So I pray for them tonight, and for their health and happiness from this day forward.

Never in my ministry have I celebrated FIVE weddings in a single day--let alone a two-hour evening!  Each of tonight's couples has been together for years--eight, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen.  Already, they have loved well, and suffered losses, and held on through turbulence.  I pray that the Holy One, the Lover of All, will shower their lives with blessing upon blessing, now and always.  And I'm so grateful for being witness to their hopefulness.  Five times over.