Readings for the Wedding of James Winfield Hendry and Flora Lyn Klay:
Song of Solomon 2:10 – 13; 8:6 – 7
Romans 8:28, 38 – 39
John 15:9 – 12
This sermon was preached at the Wedding of Jim and Lyn on Saturday January 18, 2020 at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA
Abide in my love. I have said this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. I speak in the Name of the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love Overflowing. Amen.
“The union of husband and wife is intended by God for mutual joy.”[1] What a wonderful phrase from our prayer book: “mutual joy.” A phrase that aptly describes the loving friendship and intimacy between Jim and Lyn over the years, an intimacy that radiates and embraces us all so that we can share in that mutual joy. That is why we are here: to experience and relish in the joy of Jim and Lyn. And perhaps the most primal and yet also the most transcendent way to express joy is through song. And these two have been singing joyfully together since they were both members of the choir at Jordan Junior High in Palo Alto CA.
Although they were singing together in junior high, they didn’t actually meet until later at Palo Alto High School or “Paly” through mutual friends who hung out at the Reno Club and the Alley Club. Although Jim and Lyn were underage, they still found a way to sneak in. This is when their love first began to bloom. Like a rose that fills the air with sweet and tender fragrance and like the fig tree and vine described in the Song of Solomon, their love and mutual joy began to spread and grow and produce fruit. They were eventually married at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto about 53 years ago and began a family.
They were not immune to the difficulties and tragedies of this life, but even amid enormous challenge and profound loss, Lyn and Jim stayed connected to one another and continued to water the roots of their friendship and deepen their bond. And their faith grew stronger as they began to lean more fully into the great Christian promises articulated by St. Paul in Romans that “all things work together for the good for those who love God” and that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come …will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:28, 38 – 39).
Even as Jim and Lyn separated and lived different lives for many years—their hearts expanding as they experienced the love of others, the joy of welcoming Beth and Bret—Jim and Lyn were growing and maturing, but they continued to stay connected and discover joy in each other’s company as well. They eventually started expressing that joy once again through song, as members of the Ferndale Community Choir and now as distinguished members of the choir here at Christ Church Eureka, where they have reunited and where Jim was recently baptized into the family of God by Mother Lesley. As Jim now sings tenor and Lyn sings soprano (or sometimes second soprano when needed), they invite hundreds of people here (parishioners and visitors) to abide in God’s love so that the joy of Christ, which is expressed in their mutual joy, may be shared by all of us and thus made complete.
Jim and Lyn have told me that singing feeds their souls and lifts their hearts. St. Augustine is credited with having said that “to sing is to pray twice.” In other words, our prayers are twice as effective when we sing them. My advice to you, Jim and Lyn, on this most joyful day, is to keep singing, keep praying and expressing your joy through song so that your mutual joy may grow and spread and be shared with the world. Keeping singing the praises of the Lord, but also sing each other’s praises. May your hearts overflow with gratitude whenever you notice your partner’s engaging smile, warm compassion, quick wit, and kind generosity. May you sing each other’s praises when one of you brings home lunch or takes care of the chickens or gives you ice cream. May you sing each other’s praises when you help each other communicate with family members, when you persist in the midst of difficulties, when you save each other from the time of trial, when you serve as a healing presence, a gentle balm, in the midst of pain and sorrow, and when you forgive each other with tender grace. Keep singing each other’s praises. And keep singing to the source of all love, the One who gave you the gift of each other and the gift of mutual joy.
By joyfully singing praises to the Lord of love, “your hearts will unfold like flowers opening to the sun above,” as English minister Henry van Dyke says in his Hymn to Joy, which we will hear after you have made your vows. Keep singing so that you may abide in God’s love, which will “melt the clouds of sin and sadness and drive the dark of doubt away,” God’s love which connects you to each other and to all of us, as well as to those whom you love but see no longer, including your daughter Amber Rose who must be overflowing with joy today. Keep singing so that your mutual joy will lift us to the joy divine.[2]
Finally, I must say how wonderful and appropriate it is that you are getting married here at Christ Church Eureka. This is appropriate not only because Lyn served as Senior Warden here for several years and was instrumental in calling me as the rector; and appropriate not only because we are celebrating our 150th anniversary this year and Jim and Lyn’s years collectively add up to 150 (so they tell me); but mostly appropriate because this church is named after Jesus Christ, whom we believe to be the perfect embodiment of God’s love and God’s joy. In a few moments, you will make solemn vows to each other, and you will do so in the presence of friends and family and God who all love you and share your joy; and you will do so in a church named after the perfect embodiment of God’s love. What could be more appropriate and wonderful than that!
So now, in these few silent moments before you make your vows, I invite you to close your eyes and simply soak in all the love that is here right now in this church, Christ Church. Let that love wash over you so that it may deepen your mutual joy and lift you to the joy divine. Amen.
[1] The Book of Common Prayer (Church Publishing, 1979), 423.
[2] Henry Van Dyke, “Joyful, joyful, we adore You,” The Hymnal 1982, #376.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 