Gatherings

They had come from all over to witness, to celebrate - love. Some on the groom's side, some on the bride's side - but now they were all on one side -for love. It wasn't the size of the crowd that impressed, since you can draw a crowd by any number of means, No, it was their purpose - to celebrate and to lend their support by their presence to this grand leap into the future.

People of all ages, types, races and relationships came into the old church's chapel. Some looked at home there, seeming to have spent a lot of time in sacred spaces. They entered with eyes fixed on the stunning stained glass rendition of Jesus the good shepherd. Coming forward, they found their places in pews older than many of them. Welcomed home, they leafed through the Bibles and hymnals as if they had found a family heirloom.

Others were clearly uncomfortable, like people in someone else's home. Their eyes darted around the sanctuary seeming to not find the peace others received, but a restlessness. They wouldn't linger long after, even though the One for whom the building existed would have certainly loved their company. After all, He created places like that just to bring His people together with Him. To learn, to laugh, and to love - together with Him.

My part was to tie the bow over the knot. To remind the friends, the family, and the couple themselves just who wrote love first, and best, and most often. To give credit to the author of love. To call all who inhabited that space for those few minutes to the sudden realization that God was among us - and available to all.

To build a bridge.

And so I turned down a familiar pathway and read to them the way of love.

1If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
3If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

4Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
5Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
6Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
7Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (1 Cor 13, MSG)

Every time I am part of a wedding, I remember that my Savior's first miracle was at one. And I pray that somehow, as people gather to celebrate love - a love limited by a lifetime - that Love beyond all limits will find them.

Whenever two or more are gathered...

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.