Dear Friends,

As some of you know, this has been a big week for my family. My oldest son, Channing, got married yesterday, and we gathered on the shore of Maryland with relatives and friends from across the country and the world. His bride, Emily, is of Chinese descent, so there was a mingling of Eastern and Western traditions, and I enjoyed eating Harvest Moon cakes, delivering my red envelope, and witnessing a hair combing ceremony!

And no, I am did not preside at the wedding. My son just wanted me to be his mom. And that is fine with me!

Emily and Channing are big fans of the Persian mystics, and during their wedding ceremony, they received this blessing by the 13th Century poet Mawlânâ Jalâl ad-Dîn Muhammad Balkhî, better known as Rumi, (1207 - 1273).

This Marriage

May these vows and this marriage be blessed. May it be sweet milk, this marriage, like wine and halvah. May this marriage offer fruit and shade like the date palm. May this marriage be full of laughter, our every day a day in paradise. May this marriage be a sign of compassion, a seal of happiness here and hereafter. May this marriage have a fair face and a good name, an omen as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky. I am out of words to describe how spirit mingles in this marriage.

Please take time this week to give or to receive this blessing – for your own marriage, for the marriage of someone you care for, or for any kind of marriage – whether it is to a calling, to a community, to a friend, or to the created world that surrounds us. It is no coincidence that marriage is commonly used as a metaphor for the relationship between God and God’s people, and between Christ and the church.

In Christ,

Amelie+