Happy anniversary Megan!

Two years ago today, we wed at First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee during Sunday morning worship. I could get all romantic-like and wax eloquently about how it was the best decision I’ve ever made or how I’m only deeper in love with Megan today, but, that’s not blog-propriate.  Instead, I’m using our anniversary to blog on our wedding service itself since it seems to have done the job so far, was a bit unusual, and comes highly recommended by us both.

I can’t remember when we first thought of it (in our household, Megan’s in charge of remembering things) but we’d certainly had considered being married during Sunday morning worship for a long time. In fact, just a few hours after Megan proposed to me, we found ourselves flipping through a hymnal looking for appropriate hymns for worship.

For us – and I’m just going to write all these comments from a very personal point of view and I’m not saying everyone should do what we did or think as I think – anyways, for us, having our wedding during Sunday morning worship just made sense. Neither of us likes drawing attention to ourselves, so the idea of a traditional wedding put us off. We both hold worship in high regard, and we didn’t want our wedding to be confused as a gathering around the bride and groom, rather than a gathering around the Word to worship the Triune God. We both had strong relationships with the congregation, and the pastor and session proved fully supportive.  A sunday morning wedding is not for everybody, but it may be for some.  Here’s what ours looked like.  

Worship (Not Quite) as Usual:
Though we wanted to be very clear that what people were participating in that Sunday morning was a worship service first and foremost, we did go some effort to make the worship particularly festive. A few examples.

     The Procession: The Bible led the procession, followed by the choir, followed by Megan and me and our parents. We entered singing a hymn, with the congregation of course. Fred Pratt Green’s “God is Here…and we your people meet to offer praise and prayer.”

     The Liturgy: Megan is Lutheran, I’m Presbyterian. Considering the many Lutherans from out of town attending worship, the congregation, early in the summer, began singing and learning the Lutheran liturgy. As the church changes service music fairly regularly, I doubt anyone outside the choir realized the liturgy was “Lutheran.” So when we all gathered on September 3, almost everybody knew the tune. (And of course, we had a brass ensemble and timpani help lead us in our joyful noise.)

     The Vows: We used slightly altered more inclusive vows from the PC(USA) Book of Worship. We didn’t practice them. There was no rehearsal the night before. Everything still went smoothly. Sometimes rehearsals are more trouble than they’re worth. Immediately following the vows, the congregation rejoiced by singing a Celtic Alleluia unaccompanied in a round.

     Communion: Call me traditional, but I agree with Calvin: the Lord’s Supper should be celebrated every Lord’s Day.  I also think communion is a fantastic way for a congregation with many guests to celebrate their unity in Christ.  The session granted our request to celebrate the eucharist that morning. They also allowed Megan and me to serve. So our first act as a married couple was serving the community from Christ’s table. Talk about a good start!

     Choir: Friends from St. Olaf College, Luther Seminary, and Luther College swelled the numbers of the church choir. They, of course, helped lead the liturgy and hymns, but they also sang two anthems, one of which is by former St. Olaf Choir director, F. Melius Christianssen, “Praise to the Lord Almighty.”  (For audio, try listening to the St. Olaf Christmas Festival Combined Choir version from a few years back here; it may work.)

 Postlude: Postgame, our amazing organist led us out of worship with the raucous Egil Hovland arrangement of “Now Thank We All Our God.” Megan and I greeted our fellow worshipers at the entrance to the courtyard where the congregation gathered for a reception following worship.

Reflections:
     Now I’m totally biased, but I really think the church would do well to welcome and seek out more weddings to take place during Sunday worship. This frames weddings as they should be framed–God’s people gathering before God to make promises to God and one another. Without the grounding in worship and the word, because of the wedding industry and social expectations, it’s very difficult for people attending weddings to think of them primarily as worship events not praise-the-couple events. Without intentional planning, it’s also difficult to make the wedding a participatory event–as worship should be–rather than an event which guests simply attend.

As the mainline church reconsiders its foundations in our money and prestigue-driven 21st century culture, we are called to reassert a Christian understanding of marriage. As the emergent church thinks creatively about how God is moving outside traditional models of church, we can seek ways to rescue Christian marriage from the snares of the fashion and hospitality industry.

So to couples and pastors out there, I heartily recommend marriage in the context of Sunday worship. Two years out, my only regret is that we couldn’t find a way to get a baptism in there as well. Happy Anniversary Megan!

Many thanks to Taylor Guthrie, our dear friend and photographer.