This summer we're hosting free Franciscan retreats at the church. Here's more of my account of the retreat, interrupted slightly by a wedding I'm attending in San Marcos...
5:15 p.m. -- 6:02 p.m.
Here I am, driving like a maniac to get inside the sanctuary before the bride starts walking down the aisle. Two things that stress me out are getting to weddings and surprise parties on time simply because of their go / no-go mandates. I pulled into the Episcopal church here at the Texas State University campus at two minutes past six, fearing the worst. Luckily, the service isn't going to start for another five minutes or so. I'm slipping into the pew with Tim and Ryan and Michael and other Netzer Co-op friends.
6:03 p.m. -- 7:something p.m.
After the bridesmaids make their way down the aisle, Jack, their dog, lumbers down as well. Matt looks grown-up and confident; his usual stoic persona is working to good effect alongside his tailored suit. Brianna is beautiful. I was proud of these kids: nothing was overdone, overblown. Their shared values of restraint and simplicity were evident. No embarrassing wince-worthy situations, dog notwithstanding.
And here I participate in this really, really beautiful moment as well, one of the best moments I've ever witnessed at a wedding. Toward the end of the service, Bri and Matt are handed the consecrated elements and they administer the Eucharist to their family and friends. The sheer weight of the symbolism, the mystical reality and the holism on display really are too much for me in my sleep-deprived state. But it is good to cry. In that way I stand in solidarity with the bride, I suppose: with half-smiling furtive glances we both acknowledge each others' tears as she hands me the bread. "This is the body of Christ." Matt has the chalice. "The blood of Christ."
7:something p.m. -- 8:30 p.m.
I rejoin the highway, heading back south toward Garden Ridge, Texas, and I pull into Covenant already filled by the experience of the wedding. I feel a bit unworthy to receive a two-day retreat tacked onto the end of a really good evening. I go inside and join the discussion: the group is going around the room doing introductions.
Next blogpost: Vespers, Compline, Matins…
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