July 24, 2007

weddings

'And the two will become one flesh.'

Can't even tell you how many weddings Sarah and I were invited to this summer. And even the number for which we ended up in the wedding party, playing instruments or just attending is pretty astounding for one 2-month period.

Here's some of the highlights:

Ben and Liz (Hazlett) Allen, Wheeling, WV, May 19
(Sarah was a bridesmaid)

Matt and Trina (Walters) Showalter, Lancaster, PA, June 9
(We don't have a picture unfortunately, it was a beautiful outside wedding; I ran sound and played their first dance song)

Cory and Amanda (Fisher) Neville, Wheeling, WV, June 23
(Sarah was a bridesmaid)

Ryan and Erica (Bolyard) Huffman, Morgantown, WV, June 30
(I was a groomsmen and Sarah and I played an original song for the unity candle)

Adam and Anne (Sheldrake) Niess, Greenwood, IN, July 21
(We just attended! Adam's an old friend of Sarah's from Wheeling)

And I played in another wedding in Morgantown on July 7th, we attended the rehearsal dinner of an old friend in North Carolina on July 19th, we were going to play in a wedding in Clarksburg in August but the couple eloped, and we have one more wedding in which we're playing music on September 1st in Morgantown. WHEW!

Weddings are obviously very special cultural, personal and spiritual events. Even with the volume of this summer's ceremonies, I still had a sense of awe at each. I remembered what it was like when I watched my own bride walk down the aisle toward me. I remembered how awesome it was to drive away at the end, the hustle and bustle fading away behind us as it was finally just me and her. And I remembered how utterly beautiful the joining of two lives is, and how mysterious. It's compared to the mystery of Christ being the true head of the church, and the church being his body, though that mystery is far greater (Ephesians 5:25-32). This was the subject of my song 'Love' that I wrote for Ryan and Erica.

Anyway, all this travel (and the work we've been doing on our coffeehouse so.zo -- more on that soon) are the primary reasons I've been absent from my blog for so long (Sarah and I also went to Columbus at the beginning of July to celebrate our own wedding day [2 years!], we went to the Outer Banks last week with my family, and this weekend we're going to Knoxville, TN to celebrate my older and younger brother's birthday [both on July 30th, 17 years apart]).

More blogging (I promise) soon!