Traveling

Wedding Toast

St. John tells how, at Cana’s wedding feast,

The water-pots poured wine in such amount

That by his sober count

There were a hundred gallons at the least.

It made no earthly sense, unless to show

How whatsoever love elects to bless

Brims to a sweet excess

That can without depletion overflow.

Which is to say that what love sees is true;

That this world’s fullness is not made but found.

Life hungers to abound

And pour its plenty out for such as you…

-Richard Wilbur

Recently, I spent the weekend in Chattanooga, witnessing the marriage of my dear friend Meghan to Jason Thompson. While there are obvious jokes about the number of times I’ve been a bridesmaid (8 times so far, but who’s counting?), it is still a privilege to stand up and watch two friends commit their lives to one another.

There is always something delightfully excessive about weddings-fancy dresses, fluffy cakes, life-long promises, ribbons and flowers and wine. Though it’s fun, I can get a little thrown off by the sheer extravagance of the celebration.

But for some reason, especially in this season of preparing for life in Sudan, I really relished a day that abounded with beauty and fullness. Maybe it was because I know chocolate-covered strawberries and beautiful hydrangeas will not be a part of my landscape in Mundri. Maybe I’m a little too romantic, and so enjoy pretty clothes and poetic words. But more than that, I think it was good to remember that, as Richard Wilbur says, “whatsoever love elects to bless/ Brims to a sweet excess/ That can without depletion overflow.”

Meghan and Jason’s wedding was a reminder of the generosity of God’s love. Their love for one another overflowed into our lives, and yet wasn’t depleted as it spilled over onto us. In fact, their love for one another seemed to grow as they shared their wedding day with friends and family.

As I wait for the resources to come in that will carry me to Southern Sudan, as Mundri waits for transformation and recovery from war, and as the whole earth groans with the expectation of things being made new; there is hope in the picture of a wedding’s abundance and the truth that Meghan and Jason’s wedding day offered a small taste of the extravagant celebration that is promised when Jesus returns.