The Second Reading
I'm leaning heavily towards (with the fiancee's approval, of course) a reading from First John (4:7-16 if you're scoring at home) for the New Testament Reading at the ceremony. It was one of the recommended possibilities the church gave us.
I particularly love a nugget at the center of the reading, but I'm worried the start and finish are a bit too...um...sort of overt in their Christianity. Don't get me wrong...I want an Episcopalian ceremony, so I won't leave Jesus out. But I also don't want to feel like I'm too over-the-top for my Jewish and non-believing friends and family. But wait a minute...I never feel offended at an overtly Jewish wedding, or at a non-religious one...am I being too concerned? Should I just say to heck with it (not hell...we're talking about God here) and be myself and let everyone lump it? Don't know.
This would be another one of those Issues I Sort Of Knew On Some Level Would Come Up, But Am Still Sort Of Disarmed To Face.
I particularly love a nugget at the center of the reading, but I'm worried the start and finish are a bit too...um...sort of overt in their Christianity. Don't get me wrong...I want an Episcopalian ceremony, so I won't leave Jesus out. But I also don't want to feel like I'm too over-the-top for my Jewish and non-believing friends and family. But wait a minute...I never feel offended at an overtly Jewish wedding, or at a non-religious one...am I being too concerned? Should I just say to heck with it (not hell...we're talking about God here) and be myself and let everyone lump it? Don't know.
This would be another one of those Issues I Sort Of Knew On Some Level Would Come Up, But Am Still Sort Of Disarmed To Face.
posted by TeacherRefPoet at 5:36 PM
2 Comments:
I checked out the reading, and I don't see anything offensive. As I told swankette, anything short of announcing that anyone who doesn't believe in Jesus is damned, is OK. At a friend's wedding a couple of years ago, the pastor performing the service said that without Jesus, there could be no true love and no true relationship. The bride cringed visably, and those of us at the "Jew" table didn't feel very good either. Anthing short of that announcement is really fine. You needn't worry.
k
Let 'em lump it, chief. Well, K is right, you don't want anything overtly offensive. But if they know you, and they know they're going to an Episcopalian church for the ceremony, they've got to be prepared for this much God talk.
I do remember choosing not to use some Pauline epistle which begins with the line "let there be no fornication." Not really the positive message we were trying to send. And there's one which will make everyone uncomfortable without regard to creed.
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