A a couple of weeks ago, my daughter and I played music for a wedding. It was her sister-in-laws' second marriage. Her first husband abandoned the family. Her groom's first wife abandoned him. So, they got together. I hope it works out for them.
Our daughter plays tenor sax. I play lots of things, including guitar. It is a skill leftover from my young, folksinger days. I had not played in public for years, but a mother will do just about anything for her daughter - including building up some callouses in order to help her with her project. She really wanted to give this gift to her sister in law - some live music before the service and some live music during it as well.
We picked out some old, easy listening favorites - Moon River, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, What a Wonderful World, Unchained Melody, and others.
We also did the processional for the groom and bridesmaids. It was Yesterday's Love, or some such thing, that the bride and groom had picked out. I played my oboe - yes, I am one of those odd people who play the oboe - and daughter played keyboard. We are a musical family. My husband would have played as well, but he was recovering from a small operation on his lip and couldn't play his clarinet.
They had also picked out the song Bless the Broken Road, which I understand is very popular for weddings these days. I have never been very into popular music because I was always a classical music snob. Then I had a child who loved all kinds of music. She broadened my musical horizons. I'm still pretty ignorant, but I'm trying. There are some kinds of popular music that I really, totally love.
Oh, yes, at one time folk music was popular, as hard as that may be to imagine now. So, to that extent, I was into popular music. I was definitely not into country.
Oh, yes, at one time folk music was popular, as hard as that may be to imagine now. So, to that extent, I was into popular music. I was definitely not into country.
Here is the song just in case anyone who reads this has also been living under a rock as far as pop culture goes. We decided to use the recorded song for the wedding, since it was for the bride and groom's dance after the ceremony - in lieu of a waltz. We would not have been able to play and sing loud enough without mikes, which we did not have.
Now, here comes the somewhat tacky, but with great meaning for me, wonderful, beautiful thoughts part. I know this song is talking about human love, and that is not what I'm talking about. My husband and I have been married for 34 years, and he is the love of my life. There is no other, and we're in it till death parts us - and gladly so. Well, not the death part, but the together part. ...and our love is human, and...anyway...on to the next point.
Actually, the meaning for me is really difficult to express. I wrote in the first post on this blog that I did not know where St. Thomas was taking me, but I knew he was a Jesus follower so it was okay.
It seems that he is taking me home - a home I didn't even know was mine or that it was home. The details are to be worked out, and I don't know when I'll get there, but the broken road we're going down is taking me somewhere good.
A few years ago I had the first rational thought about that possibility, and it may have been someone quoting Aquinas even when the thought struck me. It seemed so crazy at the time I just tucked it away. It was more like a longing than it was a fully formed thought. It was kind of like looking over the neighbor's fence and wishing I could live with them.
Ever so gently, ever so kindly, ever so sweetly, one by one, my defenses and arguments have lately been moved aside so I can see something more clearly. I am seeing great and wonderful things. No, it is not as thought I had never seen or known Christ. I have known Him since I was a small child, but this is different. No, it is not a moving away from Christ, but rather it is Christ leading me to a safer, more homely haven, it seems.
Jeremiah 33:3
3 Call to me and I will answer and reveal to you wondrous secrets that you haven’t known.
I didn't even know I was calling in that way. In fact, I am not the only one. I am certainly not the brightest or the best one, but I am one. I certainly do not understand all - or even very much - of what Thomas is telling us, but I understand enough.
"Naturally I taught my students Thomas Aquinas, but I found it difficult to do so. The problem was that his arguments presented such a strong appearance of truth. For the very beauty of this appearance, I had to exercise strong discipline not to weep."
Then there's Anscombe's article on The Eucharist in the book Faith in a Hard Ground and The Anchoress' article today on the Immaculate Conception. God tackled the hard things for me first. The rest will come.
I love my home church and the people there. It is a beautiful place of Christian fellowship and worship. I'm not unhappy there at all, or with my ministry. I am sad about the direction that Evangelicalism in general is going, but that cannot be the reason I am heading elsewhere - though that's part of it.
So, that's how my mind works. I don't think it's that different from most, but I don't know. I'm trying to keep the chatter under control - but that's just how my girl brain works, and it's fun - to hear the music and to see the wonder and the beauty of the Lord.
...and I don't know if that is where we are going, but I know I have to investigate further.
Then, to prove that I am really a nerdy classical music snob, there's the NY Philharmonic's performance of Bach's b minor Mass - Alan Gilbert - that kind of helps seal the deal.
There is also the unnamed friend who I shall call Artaban, though that name doesn't fit exactly. He gave me this jewel whose name is Thomas Aquinas - as well as Anscombe. It's the jewel part that fits, along with the idea that a person doesn't always see how they are being used. I had no idea what I was receiving, but I do not expect to ever be just the same again no matter where I end up.
Then, to prove that I am really a nerdy classical music snob, there's the NY Philharmonic's performance of Bach's b minor Mass - Alan Gilbert - that kind of helps seal the deal.
There is also the unnamed friend who I shall call Artaban, though that name doesn't fit exactly. He gave me this jewel whose name is Thomas Aquinas - as well as Anscombe. It's the jewel part that fits, along with the idea that a person doesn't always see how they are being used. I had no idea what I was receiving, but I do not expect to ever be just the same again no matter where I end up.
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