The Summer of Weddings

Labor Day indicates the end of the Summer of Weddings, at the beginning of which, I counted ten couples I knew who were getting married.  So here's a post to congratulation them and wish them God's blessings!

Rohn and Bekah

Bekah and I met in sixth grade at VBS, and Rohn and I got to know each other on a CEF missions trip to Boston after a year of having lots of mutual friends.  It's a pleasure to call them CBC neighbors, visit their apartment in Philly Hall, and offer small tips on fighting roaches.  If I do say so myself, my sister Bethany did an excellent job as bridesmaid/train-bearer!  It was a pleasure to play the piano for two such good friends.

Andrew and Renae

Renae and I work together - she taught me everything I know about recruiting students.  It's fun to see Andrew drop into the admissions department a bit more regularly than he used to - and it has nothing to do with registering for classes!  Their marriage ceremony was Christ-centered, highlighting the relationship between Christ and His Church.  My job was to keep the food table full stocked with crackers, cheese, and hummus.

Brent and Elizabeth

Elizabeth and I met at a piano recital in elementary school, and we've been friends since!  It was a pleasure to work with her as her wedding coordinator. The wedding was a lot of fun, from decorating tables for five hundred guests to laughing with the ushers at the back of the auditorium about unity candles.  God's work in Brent and Elizabeth's relationship was a joy to watch.  And, again, my sweet sister was an excellent bridesmaid/mirror-holder.

Alex and Kara

Alex and I attended college together in South Dakota, and after he transferred to Calvary, word came back that he had a girlfriend and she was wonderful.  Reports about Kara were not exaggerated!  Getting to know her through dorm life and church activities has been delightful.  Alex and Kara are very intentional about reaching out and caring for the people God has placed around them.  And since wedding pictures are still coming, here's the happy couple before they were married.

Graham and Jenna

 Graham and Jenna are both great friends from college in South Dakota.  Celebrating their marriage was a mixture of many happy bits, including great music at the ceremony, iced coffee at the reception in the park, a sermon-toast from Mr. G, and, certainly not least, a couple rejoicing in God's sovereign work in their lives.  The ceremony was happily documented by our great friend Clara.  The reception and subsequent after-party were so full of reunions of old friends that we didn't tear ourselves away until 2 in the morning!  FYI, being guest book attendant is one of the greatest jobs in a wedding!

"So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." - Matthew 19:6

Shakespeare and Satisfaction

Last weekend, I attended a free production of a Shakespeare play held outdoors.  A big group of friends went, and there are few things in the world so comfortable and happy as spending time with good friends.  Two productions were running: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Antony and Cleopatra.  Not being a big tragedy fan, I planned on seeing Midsummer.  However, the organized side of my personality was pre-occupied with Hebrew and didn't check which show was running that night.  The result was that when we arrived at the park, Antony and Cleopatra was running. 


It was an entertaining show - quite funny on many levels.  I couldn't endorse it and probably won't see it again because it was quite a bit more descriptive than necessary (one of those times when it's not edifying to be familiar with Elizabethan English!).  But the value of seeing it was that it highighted the world's best.  Theater is a high form of art.  Antony and Cleopatra is great literature.  Shakespeare is considered to be the finest expression of love in the English languages.  But after the play, I thought, "Is this it?  Did I really just  spend 2.5 hours watching the highest form of English culture?"  Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful time and hope to see the next Shakespeare production, but the whole thing had a hollow feeling about it.


Part of the reaction probably comes from not studying Shakespeare, but part of the reaction is similar to Solomon's in Ecclesiastes 2:4-11:

"I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.  I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.  I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.  I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.  I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man.  So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.  Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

Solomon recognized that the world's best did not satisfy.  Trying to find satisfaction in landscaping, livestock, wealth, art, relationships, and Shakespeare is empty.  The world's best does not satisfy us because God did not make us to be satisfied by it.  God created man for fellowship with Himself, and nothing less than that will satisfy him.  Man's problem is that he looks for satisfaction in things and people instead of God.


C. S. Lewis wrote in "The Weight of Glory":

"...If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased."

When a person has been united with Christ in a saving relationship with God, he is satisfied in that relationship.  Then, he may enjoy the things that Solomon and Lewis mention because he is first satisfied in God.

Of Pianos and Pastries

On Friday evening Bekah, Arely, Un Joo, and I attended a piano recital. After waiting in a line outside the theater in the winter wind, we wound our way through the crowds gathered around the coffee bar and the ushers up to the balcony. (Un Joo isn't in the picture because she took the picture for us after all our attempts at self-portraits failed.)

We enjoying music of Beethoven's 26th Piano Sonata, Brahms 16 Waltzes, 2 Chopin ballades, Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, and an encore by Liszt. We had lovely seats in the front of the balcony looking right down onto the keyboard!

The concert was in a theater - the walls were full of golden scroll-work, highly romanticized silhouettes of people, and, arching over the stage, great heads with gaping mouths. Here you can see the boxes with red velvet curtains. (I don't think they had been dusted recently...the curvy tops of the curtains looked slightly gray-ish...)

Ever wondered what it's like to have those faces watch you for two hours? The mushroom-things are sound-reflectors. (Sshhh, don't tell anyone, but the people-watching fun goes up about 110% in a building packed with music nerds!!!)

The next morning we celebrated Bekah's half-birthday (since her birthday is during the summer) with breakfast at a Swiss pastry shop.

Between hazelnut and and almond pastries, hot chocolate, and the lemons in the drinking water, it was an entertaining breakfast...

...and a wonderful weekend.

Messiah

This weekend I had the privilege of singing Handel's Messiah again. Growing up, Messiah was often played in our house, but it has been a special joy to sing it several times during the last years. The message of God's glory revealed through Jesus Christ overflows my heart with awe over His splendor. Listen to its message:

"And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is a like a refiner's fire. And He shall purify the sons of Levi that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel: God with us. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is the righteous Savior, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen. Come unto Him all ye that labor and are heavy laden and He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Hallelujah. [! ed.] Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever. Amen."

This is part of the score to "And the Glory"

Take some time this Christmas to thank God for His glorious gift of salvation, for His easy yoke, and for His rest for your soul. And, while you're at it, set aside some time to listen to Messiah.

Miss Bekah also enjoyed singing

Birthday Explorations

Celeste had a birthday, and the peeps surprised her - twice, actually:)

The girls decorated creatively on Friday evening, and we enjoyed cake and played Ninja very energetically in the lounge. On Sunday afternoon, Bekah pulled me out of Greek homework; and she, Alisha, Beth, Valerie, and I spent two hours roaming the plaza. We did NOT buy anything, but we enjoyed feeling sophisticated in skirts and high heels, looking at an art gallery, smelling perfumes, and taking the following pictures. Please enjoy your tour.

This nameless gentlemen looked like he needed a good laugh. He is one of my many cousins.

The pictures above and below are taken on the same bridge. It looked out over a river that was still and beautiful (but smelly, I'm sure). I particularly noticed the landscaping on either side of the river: it was well weeded.

After wondering around in heels, we finished up the afternoon with a Skyscraper shake. It looked very large when the waitress brought it out, but the five of us polished it off nicely.

And this is a random shot of Bekah and I last Sunday evening. College does not serve supper on Sunday evening, so we vetoed our traditional peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwitch-on-store-bought-hamburger-buns in favor of a hot dog and a large tea at Sonic. (She had the hot dog, and I the tea, btw.) Thank you Bekah, for coming and doing the whole College thing with me! Thanks everybody for a great birthday!

Encouraging Our Friends

Before turning in at night, my roommate Christine and I read from Amy Carmichael's devotional Edges of His Ways. (If you are looking for a good devotional, I highly recommend it!) Last night, the reminders were so practical that I wanted to share them with you:

"And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood,

and strengthened his hand in God."

- I Samuel 23:16

God make us all His Jonathans. There is a greater hunter abroad in the world. Like Saul who sought David every day, he seeks souls every day, never a day's respite, always the hunt is on. Although the words stand for ever, "but God delivered him not into his hand", yet sometimes souls tire of being hunted, and like David they are in a wilderness in a wood. This is Jonathan's chance. But notice what he does, he does not so comfort David that he becomes necessary to him. "He strengthened his hand in God." He leaves his friend strong in God, resting in God, safe in God. He detaches his dear David from himself and he attaches him to his "Very Present Help". Then Jonathan went to his house, and David abode in the wood - with God....

Next time we read of David being in serious trouble he had no Jonathan to strengthen his hands. "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him....But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." Long afterward when he was delivered from Saul he sang one of his songs, "It is God that girdeth me with strength....Thou hast girded me with strength....The Lord liveth." (His dear Jonathan was dead, but he does not even speak of him, all that matters is, "The Lord liveth; and blessed be my Rock".)

If he had leaned on Jonathan, if Jonathan had made himself necessary to David, he would not have leaned on his Rock and proved the glorious strength of his Rock; his whole life would have been lived on a lower level, and who can tell how many of his songs would have been left unwritten, with great loss to the glory of God and to the Church of all the ages?

- Amy Carmichael in Edges of His Ways, p. 5-6