weddings and other thoughtful things.

so melissa bixler got married yesterday. weird, and great. it was only yesterday that we were meeting jacob for the first time at hull st. house. the wedding was full on episcopal, and as i sat there i said to my self, self, i hope that i can live to see all my friends this happy. this might not come through marriage, though for many it will. i always am overwhelmed at weddings by the amount of joys, sorrows, and annoyances that face each couple, which makes me think about this book im reading right now. Amazing Grace, by kathleen norris, takes all of these religious terms and concepts and sort of tries to break them down. In this book, she talks about belief and how the Greek root for this word means "to give one's heart to." so belief is not just thinking something with the mind, but choosing to give your heart to that person, or idea, or God. i think i forget how closely intertwined love and belief/faith are, in that they both require commitment. hell, maybe they are the same thing.

while at the wedding, i was talking to this catholic dude who wants to become a priest, about the infallibility of the pope. he termed it as: the pope can never be wrong, but the statement or idea can always be said better. i dont know exactly where i stand on the pope's authority, but i do like the dialectic of "not wrong"/"room for improvement." as i continue to try to figure out how to deal with some of the (hard) things i come across in Scripture, some of the teaching to which i have been exposed, i like the idea of approaching these uncertainties with this attitude of respect for the "rightness" of the teaching, and also that perhaps this teaching could be done better. for example, it drives me nuts when folks take stuff from the epistles out of context, but instead of just rolling my eyes, perhaps i need to...acknowledge what is right, and then go from there. easier said than done. but in this way, perhaps i can act out my love toward my fellow members of the body of Christ.
-LEX