Wedding of Jackson Almon and Kimmy Matthews

Wedding of Jackson Almon and Kimmy Matthews
30 June 2018
The Hotel Galvez

I had the privilege of meeting Jackson in April.  I’ve known Kimmy since 2002 when she was in 5th Grade at Trinity Episcopal School and I was starting as head of school there.  Kimmy and Jackson honored me with the pleasant task of officiating today in part because of Kimmy’s great memories as a student at Trinity.

So, allow me bring up a school memory I gleaned from looking at her 2006 yearbook.  It was a tradition in those days for our 8th graders to choose a quote to go below their graduation photo. The quote Kimmy selected cannot be exactly attributed; it went something like, “ To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”

When two people can only imagine their future as being together...to see this in the light of that yearbook quote… we could say that these two have become the world for each other.  No doubt the two of you see the promise, possibility, and joy in building a life together.  Paul of Tarsus, in his First Letter to the Church in Corinth speaks of Love being the greatest of all God’s gifts.  Today the two of you choose this Love.

So, Kimmy and Jackson, here’s a bit of wisdom as you live into becoming the world for one another.  There really are only two choices in life, two ways of seeing the world, two paradigms, two ways of making every decision: these are Love and Fear.  Today, you inspire all of us by choosing Love.  There is so much around us all the time that is broken; it seems as if there is heartbreak everywhere we turn.  Fear tempts us to focus on scarcity, to see everything through the distorted lens of anxiety.  To be safe by staying small.  Fear says you have to be selfish to survive. Fear says that life is a zero-sum game where one person has to lose in order for the other person to win.  But here you are, in the face of all of that, choosing to be married… choosing to give yourself to each other for life.

Going forward I invite you to think of marriage as a school for learning how to see everything more clearly; a classroom where you will learn what it means to give in order to receive...to learn generosity of self like it’s in your bones.  Sometimes, you will disagree with one another.  Love will require that you stand outside yourself to understand the other perspective.  If one person always wins, you both will lose.  You will make mistakes.  You will need to forgive in order to move forward.  What is important is not the failures, but how you recover from them.  Love will require you to swallow pride….to turn mistakes into an opportunity for learning.
One last bit of advice, remember that God’s first purpose of marriage is Joy.  Have fun.  Enjoy your family.  One day should you be blessed to have teenagers; you know, smooch a little in front of them every now and then just to embarrass them.  Make a place for laughter in your lives...being a sourpuss does not lead to happiness.  What does lead to happiness is being thankful and knowing in your bones that all of life is a gift...and the greatest of all these gifts is Love.  AMEN.