Sub Royal Weddings & Substitute Love
The royal wedding (or sort-of sub-royal) is old news but I want to add my little 2 cents to the non-gushing side of things.
Bishop Michael Curry made quite a stir with his sermon. The Americans have been raving about it. I noticed a line featured on the cover the People special wedding edition. It seems that most of the "love" is simply patriotic fervor because Curry is American. There are plenty of churches in America where similar sermons are given -- perhaps with less flair -- with little publicity. Hillsong, for example. I'm pretty sure that exact sermon gets trotted out every so often. Maybe Bieber finds it inspiring.
It should be noted that Bishop Curry smooshed together all the various kinds of love into one amorphous mass. He spun the Song of Songs as puppy love; it had as much depth as a Beatles song but four times as long. It had little in common with the mighty unquenchable love that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of.
He did happen to mention Jesus. There was nothing in his sermon to make anyone present, say, perhaps Sir Elton John, feel a bittersweet longing for a sweetness as yet untasted. They already had everything they needed, without Jesus, to change the world according to Bishop Curry's definition. Especially when he called on the guests to "remember the first time you fell in love." Oprah or Amal Clooney returned home untouched by anything ineffable or transcendent.
Real, holy love makes us tremble in fear and fall on our faces, like in Isaiah 6 or here with shy amazement:
Bishop Michael Curry made quite a stir with his sermon. The Americans have been raving about it. I noticed a line featured on the cover the People special wedding edition. It seems that most of the "love" is simply patriotic fervor because Curry is American. There are plenty of churches in America where similar sermons are given -- perhaps with less flair -- with little publicity. Hillsong, for example. I'm pretty sure that exact sermon gets trotted out every so often. Maybe Bieber finds it inspiring.
It should be noted that Bishop Curry smooshed together all the various kinds of love into one amorphous mass. He spun the Song of Songs as puppy love; it had as much depth as a Beatles song but four times as long. It had little in common with the mighty unquenchable love that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of.
He did happen to mention Jesus. There was nothing in his sermon to make anyone present, say, perhaps Sir Elton John, feel a bittersweet longing for a sweetness as yet untasted. They already had everything they needed, without Jesus, to change the world according to Bishop Curry's definition. Especially when he called on the guests to "remember the first time you fell in love." Oprah or Amal Clooney returned home untouched by anything ineffable or transcendent.
Real, holy love makes us tremble in fear and fall on our faces, like in Isaiah 6 or here with shy amazement:
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
Love III, George Herbert
Ed: My use of "substitute" in the title may be misleading. I do not mean substitutionary, but more like substituting flax meal for an egg in your baking. It functions but it's not as good. A knock off might be a better term.
Ed: My use of "substitute" in the title may be misleading. I do not mean substitutionary, but more like substituting flax meal for an egg in your baking. It functions but it's not as good. A knock off might be a better term.
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