Rev Bill

Brian Jones, pastor of Christ’s Church Of The Valley in Philadelphia, PA, writes in an article in this weeks Christian Century that the church should be like a biker wedding.

In explaining what he means by that statement, he tells about a wedding he performed for an aquaintance who begged him to officiate at her service.

Here’s how he describes it:

A few guys propped the best man up against the wall and someone hit the tape player—”Misty Mountain Hop,” by Led Zeppelin. As the bride walked into the room, the guys hollered to one another. The lace of the wedding dress covered her massive arms but couldn’t hide the tattoos that stretched from her wrists up to her shoulders. I quickly delivered my standard wedding sermon and pronounced the couple husband and wife. Then someone screamed, “Let’s party!”

He goes on to tell about how — when it came time for the “toasts” — he learned how the church can be a community of caring.

The bride said, “I want to make a toast myself. I want to toast you guys. You are just like family to me.” She looked over at her maid of honor and said, “Jackie, you are just like a sister.”

Jackie immediately stopped her and said, “No, you’ve always been like a sister to me.” With her arms around the bride’s neck, she sobbed, “Do you remember when I lost my baby three years ago? I wouldn’t have made it without you.” Then she turned to the group and said, “Or without all of you. I wanted to die. You gave me a reason to live.”

The bride continued. “Richard, when my brother passed away, you were there for me. You were driving a rig cross-country at the time, but you still came over every weekend.”

Someone interrupted her. “You’ve been there for us too. When I lost my job, you brought groceries over to my house and bought school clothes for my kids. I’ll never forget that.”

This went on for ten minutes. People shared stories of friends in the group who helped them buy cars when they couldn’t get to work, who watched their children when they were in a pinch. One man told how two guys in the room picked him up from jail and let him live with them until he was able to afford his own place. After everyone finished, the bride looked around the room as she lifted her beer and said, “To friends.”

I looked around the room and thought, church should be like this.

A community of people who love — care for — accept — support — and are “there for” one another.

Sound like the way church should be — but too many times is not.

Read Jones’ complete article here.

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