So There I Was…

Helping a wedding happen. It is a thing that I enjoy.

Everything was going well. The guests were steadily arriving at the family farm. The bridal party was all accounted for and dressed in their finery. The flower covered wooden arch was ready. I was out among the guests greeting people and watching for that moment when it would be time to gather the groom, cue the musicians, and start the proceedings.

A small girl tweaked my radar. She was examining the wedding cake at very close range. She was clearly dealing with the temptation to put just one finger into the icing. She was leaning up on the table. I engaged her in conversation and reminded her of the funny videos where people knock over the cake table at a wedding. She wisely eased back a bit.

She was about eight. Long brown hair and very blue eyes magnified by thick glasses. She was wearing a dress imprinted with Disney princesses. It was clear that she was all into the wedding thing.

We talked about how soon the wedding would start, where the bride was ‘hiding’, and when the cake would be cut. We looked over the guests together.

“I wonder which one is the preacher?”

“Ah, that would be me.”

She looked up at me, mouth open, she pushed her glasses up her nose.

“But you’re a girl!”

“Yep” I said, not correcting the girl/woman thing.

“I’ve never seen a girl preacher!"

“Look all you want, baby – sometimes – God asks girls to be preachers.”

“Not at MY church.”

“What church do you go to?’ She named a large Conservative denomination.

“Ah, well, there are lots of churches and some of them, like mine, think everybody can preach. I am a Quaker.”

“A Quaker” she said, like it tasted funny but not all bad in her mouth.

We talked a little more about God, and what God might ask you to do, and then it was time to start the wedding.



Later, over cake, I asked her what she thought of the wedding, and how it looked with a girl preacher.

“It was nice, you did a good job, you talk read loud, and the cake is good. Do you really have a church or do you just do weddings, my mom said you probably just do weddings?”

“I really have a church. Nice folks. Probably a bit different than your church. Someday, you should come visit.”

She looked up at me,
pushed her glasses up her nose again, pursed her lips.

“I think I would like that – a church where God talks to girls"