connections

The string quartet began to play, and a breathtaking bride took her first step of this walk she'd waited so long for. The man who would soon be her husband stood and gazed at her not only with awe and adoration, but also a reverent respect. As the officiant, Keith pointed out, this day was a long time coming. But something tells me it will be worth all of the waiting. Molly and Bill shared their vows, which they had not heard from each other until then, and those promises were so profound and intricately formed, they left me in tears. Jon and I had the honor of playing a song during the ceremony. It was such a sacred moment in their lives, we still can't believe we got to be a part of it.

The night before at the rehearsal dinner, our eyes quickly caught those of Cat and Steve, a couple who we met briefly a year or two ago at the River. Now, if there's one thing you can guess about anyone with whom we discover that we have a good 'connection' and a lot of things in common, . . . come on, you know this. Yes! They don't live anywhere close to us! Houston is a long drive from here. If only we had known while they lived in California. I told Jon that the only way I can make sense of having this growing list of lovely people who are scattered across the country is that one day we'll be on tour with our yet-to-be-formed band, and we'll have a little sense of home in all of those cities.

So I mentioned the pastor, Keith a moment ago. For those of you who don't know, he was the founding pastor of The River Church Community. Jon and I attended and served there for about 5 years. We were never close friends with Keith, but the talks he gave during our time at The River were catalysts for some of the most thought-provoking, healing, and transformational times in our spiritual lives. He was also very deliberate about affirming our musical gifts, and the words he gave us about that stay with us still today. Although our feelings about church in general have changed immensely since our involvement at the River ended, we were thrilled to see him again. After chatting for only a few minutes, we discovered that he has very similar thoughts and feelings about the idea of "church" as Jon and I have developed over the past year or so. I can't express how much of a relief and really a source of excitement this is for me. We didn't have much time to talk with Keith, but we're in touch with him now through email (of course he doesn't live here anymore either!) so we can continue this conversation about all of this church stuff, and just what is really means to be a follower of Jesus. I have to admit -- since we ended our participation at the River, my pursuit of a more authentic life as a disciple of Jesus has dwindled down to a mere string of thoughts woven throughout my days. I do think about God, but when I look at my life, I can't say that I'm actually doing much of anything pertaining to my faith. But on the other hand, I am singing in public quite a bit, and when I sing, I am (as John Eldredge would say) "standing in my glory". And when I'm in that state, I just think that God comes through in those words and melodies. At least that's what I want.





So that's one wedding down, one more to go. Our friends Josh and Sarah have also invited us to sing at their wedding on July 1st. Now if I could just get my hands on a piano! It's hard not to get panicky about that sometimes. Maybe we'll find a good deal in Vancouver next week. Oh, we leave on 6/14. I expect that I'll have much to blog about. .