Discovering God

The Wedding of Katherine Huening and Asher Walden
May 7, 2011

Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
Colossians 3:12-17
Mark 10:6-9, 13-16

Discovering God

A couple of weeks ago there was a story in a British newspaper of a young Scottish girl named LuLu who was told by her teachers to write a letter to God. In this letter she was told to ask God, “how did you get invented?”

LuLu’s parents were startled when they heard about this assignment. Rather than trying to answer the question themselves, they forwarded Lulu’s question to a number of British religious leaders. One of those leaders, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, took the time to personally respond to LuLu’s question.

In his response the archbishop imagined how God would reply to LuLu. Here’s part of it:

‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected.”

The archbishop’s response to LuLu is both charming and profound.

His response touches on the great truth of how we discover God.

The story of God and humanity is a story of God being passionately in love with us – the passionate love that we hear in the words of the Song of Solomon – the passionate love “strong as death.” and “fierce as the grave.”

Because God loves us so much, is so passionate about us, God is always reaching out to us, eager to be discovered by us.

The story of God and humanity is a story of God reaching out us – from God searching for an ashamed Adam and Eve hiding in the garden to God revealing in Christ’s empty tomb that, in fact, love is stronger than death.

And God continues to reach out to us, eager to be discovered by us.

We discover God in the words of Scripture as when the author of the Letter to the Colossians writes, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

We discover God when we stop and realize, despite all of the world’s sadness and suffering, just how amazingly good it is to be alive.

We discover God when we open our eyes, look around us, and see the beauty of nature.

We discover God in the quiet of our hearts, when, as the archbishop wrote, we feel a sort of peace and love that we never expected to feel.

We discover God in the love that we share with those closest to us – with our wives and husbands, with our parents and our children, with our dearest friends.

And, every once in a while, God goes a little overboard. Every once in a while God wants so much to be discovered that God reaches out to us in all of these ways, all at the same time.

That’s what’s happening today. That’s what God is doing right here as we gather to witness the union of Katie and Asher.

We are discovering God right here and now.

We are discovering God in the beauty of this place.

We are discovering God in the beautiful passages of Scripture that we’ve heard today.

We are discovering God in the quiet of our hearts, as we reflect on the amazing journeys that brought these two wonderful people together, the unlikely journey that brought Katie and Asher here and now to make the commitment of a lifetime.

We are discovering God in the love that Katie and Asher share with each other, in the love that I saw was powerful and obvious enough to shine through even our long distance Skype sessions to prepare for today and for a life together.

And now we’re here.

We’re here to celebrate and give thanks.

We’re here to celebrate and give thanks for the love of God that we discover in so many ways, but today especially in the love of Katie and Asher.

Katie and Asher, today is a milestone on the journey of discovery that has been and will be your life together.

Katie and Asher, if you keep your eyes open, during the good times and the not so good, you will continue to discover God in one another, in the love that you share, and in the life that you have begun to build together.

And, Katie and Asher, if you keep your hearts open, you will continue to give all of us the great gift of discovering God in you, helping all of us to feel a sort of peace and love we hadn’t expected.

So, thanks to you both for sharing your love with us.

And thanks be to God for always reaching out to us, always eager to be discovered.

Amen.