Just Another Jim: My Niece's Wedding ch. 2

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Chapter 1: A Conversation with a Cult Member
Excursis 1: Why My Niece Doesn't Believe in the Trinity
Excursis 2: The Monophysite Conundrum
Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Weddings
Chapter Three: Sacraments – Redefining an old idea
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A Tale of Two Weddings

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Weddings

We discussed this particular wedding a lot before the day actually arrived. My niece is a part of a religious group that has rejected most of the religious trappings that we sort of equate with Christianity. Just how were they going to do this ceremony? How much of it would be familiar? Would we be uncomfortable? Would our Christian sensibilities be offended?

The wedding was held at a beautiful hall at the Bozeman Senior Center. The Way doesn't believe in church buildings so they have to rent out halls for events such as this. As things got going it appeared that it would be a fairly traditional wedding: The minister and groomsmen entered; the music changed; the bridesmaids came in one by one; and finally the bride entered escorted by her father. The service itself was also quite traditional; there were only two things that surprised me: there was no sermon and there was a “covenant of salt” rite that I was unfamiliar with except for it's obscure mention a couple of times in the Old Testament.

I had recently attended another wedding, an “evangelical wedding” if you will, performed by a pastor of a non-denominational evangelical church. What I found myself thinking about throughout the reception was the differences between this wedding under the auspices of The Way and the evangelical wedding of several weeks before.

First and foremost if I was not aware of the fact that the minister was a part of The Way, I would have assumed it was a traditional Christian wedding. Of particular interest was the fact that all of the significant moments in the service (call to worship, vows, exchange of rings, etc) were punctuated with a “trinitarian” acclamation. Knowing who was leading the service I recognized that they were only similar, and yet the similarity was striking. Things were done in the name of God, Jesus, and the Spirit, in honor of the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and with other similar acclamations.

This was in stark contrast to the evangelical wedding which I attended a few weeks before. God was vaguely mentioned a couple of times and Jesus was asked to bless the marriage when the presiding pastor prayed. What particularly struck me at that service was that God was never invited to preside over the event (only asked to bless the couple in the context of the ring ceremony) and scripture played a minimal role. In short, the evangelical wedding was not exactly a worship service, but rather a cultural event with some religious trappings added. This is not to say that it would have been equally acceptable to go to the Justice of the Peace. The couple desired to say their vows before God. In other words, they desired a Christian covenant and not a social contract, and that specific piece very clearly occurred at the moment of the vows and the ring ceremony. With the exceptions of a couple of references to God and a nod to the Bible, the remainder of the service could have taken place in the Court House.

So what happened here? First, the evangelicals are part of modern establishment religion. Their credentials are not questioned so they have nothing to prove. Second, this branch of American evangelicalism is a part of that rationalist tradition in which I grew up. As I said earlier, the radical rationalism of a quarter century ago that I experienced has largely been rejected through a process of self correction under the influence of the Word of God, but while the current manifestation of this branch of Christianity may be more biblical and less rationalistic, it still has strong rationalistic tendencies. The resulting focus is on personal Bible study and transformation. Worship is commanded in scripture and the Sunday morning worship service plays a central and vibrant role, but the idea of rooting all of our public life before God solidly in worship is foreign to this tradition. Blinded by the cultural rationalism this movement doesn't take seriously the historic Christian rule of thumb that it is our worship life that shapes our thinking.

In contrast The Way is not a part of establishment religion; at best they are a sect and at worst they are a cult. They therefore have a lot at stake at any public event such a wedding. The assumption is that people are watching; this becomes an “evangelical moment,” a moment to proclaim their particular faith to a doubting and unbelieving public. The service was therefor imbued with the very stuff that The Way believes. Intentionally or not, this wedding was a classic expression of the Christian rule of the thumb expressed above.

And in contrast to the evangelical wedding which was largely a cultural event with a few religious trappings and nary a mention to the specifically Trinitarian God whom they worship, this sectarian wedding was full of trinitarian rubric and rite, although the specific wording demonstrated their belief that the ancient formulas are an inadequate and inaccurate expression of the true being of God.

My unease in reflecting on these two events is similar to my unease after talking to my niece: Just who is the Christian here? Are those who simply adopt the classic creedal formulas the real thing? (“Do you believe in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son and Savior?” and “Do you accept him as your Lord and Savior?” or the evangelical version of the final question, “Have you invited him into your heart?”) Or are those who demonstrate the fruit of the real thing through the words and actions (particularly their form of worship) the real thing, even though they get the classic formula wrong? Again, I am glad that I am not the one responsible for offering the final answer to that question.

Just Another Jim "An Exploration of Christianity" or This Essay's Waaay Too Long, pt 4

A Tale of Two Weddings

Chapter 2

Just Another Jim
"An Exploration of Christianity" or
This Essay's Waaay Too Long, pt 4