Sunday, November 15, 2015

November 15 – “Quien entrega …”

I officiated at another wedding last night.  This one was for one of the fire fighters and his fiancée.  I had the chance to do “marriage boot camp” (Their words, not mine) with them, so Chris and I got to know a little about them along the way.  They even visited Seaside.  They seemed really focused on doing things “the right way,” so I feel pretty good about their prospects for the future.

The service itself went really well.  They had two extra things they added that really made the event special.  One was the presence of a fire department honor guard throughout the ceremony.  They presented the colors at the beginning of the service.  Two stood with the flags during the ceremony and two stood at the back in the aisle.  Very different and quite impressive.  Of course the honor guard did a bang-up job, and as I understand it, they were more than helpful in the preparations for the event itself.  Kind of like an extra Best Man.  Nice job, GFD Honor Guard.

The second unusual part of eth ceremony was called the Lazo, or Lasso.  The bride’s family had a strong Mexican heritage, and the lasso is a part of that culture.  After they exchanged vows, the bride’s godparents draped the two of them with a circles of rope, joined in the center with a cross.  Great symbolism of being connected by Jesus and bound together in marriage.  Really pretty as well.  Except when they got kind of hung up on one of the bride’s earrings.  That could have been a bit … not fun.  But they worked through it and all was well.

My favorite part of the whole day, though, came right at the beginning of the service.  As I mentioned the bride’s family has Mexican roots, and her father speaks very little if any English at all.  One of the key parts of the ceremony is when he walked the bride down the aisle and I ask “Who presents this woman to be married to this man?”  They had worked out a system where the bride’s Mom (who did speak English) joined them at the front for that moment so she could answer the questioned.  We worked out all the logistics at the rehearsal.  But I decided to give them a little surprise.  I asked a bilingual friend of mine to translate the phrase into Spanish for me.  Then, at the key moment, I asked the question – in Spanish.  As I was speaking I noticed the Dad’s eyes widening and his whole countenance changing.  He stood a little taller, listened a little more closely.  I quickly glanced down at my notes one more time to make sure I was pronouncing things correctly.  “Quien entrega a esta mujer para que se case con este hombre?”  (I know all the accent marks aren’t there.  Neither is the upside down question mark at the beginning, but I don’t know how to do all those thing on my computer).  After I completed the question, both Mom and Dad answered together, “Nosotros.”  And then she added, “We do,” to make sure I understood what they had just said.  It was one of those sweet moments that no one else really noticed, but I will remember. 

James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”


Father, thank you for Tim and Lizz and their commitment to each other.  Now draw them close to you.  Amen.

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