As a pastor, I have had the tremendous honor of performing around 100 weddings in my years of ministry. I have also had the wonderful privilege of officiating the nuptials for all four of my own children. Each of those were wonderful and memorable in their own way. Most of my weddings came as a young adult pastor in a large church more than 20 years ago when many couples from around the city chose our church as their wedding venue. That church had 3 unique wedding venues that were booked more than 40 weekends each year. However, one wedding, years ago, at the historic, iconic, Driskill Hotel in Austin was one I won’t forget. It was a beautiful wedding, just the bride and groom with a best man and maid of honor and about 50 people in attendance. The couple was very young. In the pre-marital counseling, I had pressed them pretty hard about their responses on their Prepare/Enrich Marriage Inventory (a tool I use to help me get an idea of where the couple’s relationship stands). Their answers to me seemed honest and mature enough to give me some assurance that they would be willing to do the hard work required for a marriage to stand the test of time. The petite blushing bride had on a multi-layered ruffled crinoline petticoat hoop dress with about a 3 foot radius, the groom had to reach over it to hold her hand. Everything was going well, until we arrived at the exchange of rings. The best man was stressed out, shaking, and sweating. Sure enough, when he tried to hand me the Bride’s ring, he dropped it and it hit the beautiful tile floor and Zing!.. it shot right up under that giant dress. The bride was frozen, afraid of stepping on them. Everyone looked at me in a panic. So I dropped to my hands and knees and began pushing the dress layers back like looking for something under curtains. About the time I found the ring, I realized how inappropriate this must have appeared. The audience began to laugh, the bride giggled, and my face turned beet red. I chuckled at myself and attempted to return some decorum to the service. In the end, the couple was married, the crowd cheered, and they always had a story to tell when anyone asked about their wedding day.
In a rough time in history, when God’s people had embarrassed themselves and forgotten how to act right as God’s representatives, God had disciplined them significantly enough to get their attention and encouraged them to turn back to Him and get back on track. The Prophet Isaiah was telling them that God could make all things right again. He says, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:10–11) Sometimes embarrassment is a good thing because it reminds us that we have lost sight of what is appropriate and can urge us back to a right relationship with God.
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!
