"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
--- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Jesus once
said to Nicodemus, “The Spirit of God blows wherever it wants, and you do not
know where it comes from or where it is going.”
I’ll bet each one of us can think of a few unpredictable twists and
turns our lives have taken, thanks to God’s wild, bracing wind that blows in
ways we can’t foresee. And it’s a sure
thing that, if you dare to go where that wind takes you, you will find yourself
surrounded by new possibilities -- opportunities you never expected or even
dreamed of. When I first met Jordy, she
went by Georgie, had a different hair color, and though she certainty had the
energy and creativity we know so well, there was not nearly so much joy in her
life. It’s been amazing to watch, as
over the last couple years God’s Spirit has opened up the world for her,
showing her where she has come from and where she is going.
The hair
color change came in discovering where she came from, and being free to
celebrate her Irish/Scotch ancestry. Anyone
who knows Jordy knows she is unique in many ways, and when she does something
she jumps in with both feet. Suddenly we
saw Jordy celebrating her heritage in all kinds of ways, from the clothes she
wore to the emblems on her coffee cup.
When Jordy reached the point in her life where she really felt she had
the freedom to be who she was, and to express that openly and creatively, she
started by looking back at where she came from and let that become the launch
pad for a new identity.
But this
new self she was becoming – Jordy instead of Georgi – was just as open to seeing
where the Spirit of God was heading, not just where it came from. Who knew that the winds of the Spirit was
blowing her towards the internet, to Match.com to be exact. There she discovered just what the old saying
says: there are plenty of fish in the sea, and plenty of nut cases on dating
sites. But among all the outrageous and
arrogant profiles she saw on Match.com, she also discovered one simple
straightforward profile that was only 3 sentences… and she decided to give Guy
Lynn a chance.
Sometimes
the wind of the Spirit blows like a gentle breeze, and sometimes you get
Irma. We are here today because two
hearts, two souls, two lives have been brought together by the irresistible
gales of love… love, which the Bible tells us is stronger than death, love
which Jesus tells us the greatest commandment, love, which Paul tells us bears
and believes all things, love, which John tells us is the very essence of God. With Guy, Jordy has experienced companionship
and caring that echoes those words in our passage from 1 Corinthians – patient
and kind, not insisting on its own way, rejoicing in the truth. “He thinks of my wants and needs and allows
me to be me,” Jordy said. It’s this kind
of respect and care that today Guy and Jordy are pledging to share with each
other till the end of their days. It
begins, not with the wants and desires we have for ourselves, but in the honest
concern and wish for the well-being of the one we love.
It is this
kind of love that God had from the beginning -- for the world he created, and the people God
took as his children. It is this kind of
love that poured out of Jesus in his life on earth and death on a cross. It is this love that travels on the winds of
God’s Spirit, blowing into our hearts when we least expect it, causing us to
love our neighbor, to care for those in need, and to believe in a world of
peace. It is moments like these, where
we see what love can do in the lives of two wonderful people, that we can
imagine a hurricane of hope blowing through the world, and wonder where God’s
Spirit may be taking us on our way to knowing fully and being fully known.
One of the
ministries we have at our church, which Jordy participates in faithfully, is
our Drive-Thru Prayer. Every Friday from
11:30-1:30, people from the community are invited to come through our parking
lot and drive up under the overhang where our prayer team stands ready to pray
with them. It can be anything at all – a
need for themselves, a loved one, a neighbor, or just a prayer of thanksgiving
for what God has done in their lives – our prayer team, the God Squad, will
lift it up with them, and they don’t even have to get out of the car. I told Jordy, if you don’t want to have a big
wedding, we could just do it at the drive-thru – but you know Jordy – when she
does something, she jumps in with both feet.
She wanted the friends, the music, the full celebration – and each of
you, to be here as she and Guy share their vows, and recognize the one who
brought them together, brought them to this place, and will take them from here
together, on the winds of His Spirit, to their next set of adventures.
This is so sweet and wonderful; However Scotch is a booze, Scottish is the person. Love it.
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