Formalities or Extraordinalities?

Throughout this past weekend, anticipating, getting ready for, and ultimately celebrating Andy and Emily's wedding, a lot of things were going through my mind. Seeing one of your closest friends get married is an incredible experience, especially when you know the other half (in this case emily) is just as amazing as the friend you've known for a long time.

As I stood up on stage in my chocolate colored tuxedo (handpicked by andy, no less), I had the opportunity to just drink in the wedding. And I ultimately kept coming back to the same thing.

You see, Andy and Emily had been dating for quite a while, and so in a lot of respects it began to feel like the wedding was just the final step in a already well-underway project. It almost seemed as if the wedding was just a mere formality. They already know each other so well, we all thought. They are so good together. They bring out the best in each other. On and on. Even Mr. Edmonson, who conducted the wedding, talked about how well prepared Andy and Emily were coming into the day of the wedding.

But all of that was laid to rest for the 40 minutes or so of the ceremony. Because in those moments, the wedding, the ceremony of marriage, would not be relegated to mere formality. To all those present, and especially to me, it was evident that this ceremony was extraordinary.

Seeing the union of two committed Believers who have each strived for the Lord on their own, now coming together under the Lordship of Christ, was no formality. No, it was an extraordinality. From the way they looked at each other during the vows, to the way the pouring of the two colors of sand into the one new jar symbolized the union taking place, to the way that Jamie (Andy's mentor during high school) couldn't look at Andy during communion because everyone in the building would have lost it, I felt the power present in the room through the Holy Spirit.

If marriage is a metaphor for our relationship with Christ, it took on new meaning for me over the weekend. No, this wedding was no formality. It was an extraordinality.

Congratulations Andy and Emily!