Tony & Sarah's Rehearsal (And Other Day Before the Wedding Festivities)

July 23rd - Early that morning I left the rental house that all of us Bridesmaids had stayed in the night of the Bachelorette party and headed home. I got ready for our rehearsal that morning and headed with Thomas, Johnny & Luis to the church. Luis freaked out (probably squealed) when I informed him that Tony & Sarah were getting married in the same chapel that Jessica Simpson got married in.

I got to practice my song with Jack, which was nice because I had yet to sing it out loud! What was more nerve-wracking for the guys was the fact that they were going to be singing their song all together for the first time. It was Johnny, Buddy, Mr. Matt, Jack, Luis, & Scott Saunders. They sang a mash-up of "I'm Yours" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." So good. SO SO SO SO SOOOOO GOOD. What was also good was the fact that I kept popping in while they were practicing to yell, "CAUSE BABY YOU'RE A FIREWORRRRK!" (Which was Luis's suggestion for songs Sarah should walk down the aisle to.)

The Bridesmaids at the Wedding Rehearsal at The Smith Family Chapel

Just hangin' out

The Bridesmaids (in particular the former LHS girls, Stefanie, Sarah & me) watching the LHS boys sing. It may or may not have brought us to tears...

Afterwards we headed over to The County Line for some DELICIOUS BBQ! :)

I believe I went home and took a nap and later on that night we headed up to a little church where we had a prayer and worship thing for Tony and Sarah. We sang some songs (well, they sang songs... I'm only well-versed in songs found in the Gather hymnal... i.e., "On Eagles Wings" or "I Am The Bread of Life") but the best part came later. We were asked in advance to have a scripture or some words of advice for the soon-to-be married couple.

I'm pretty sure ALL of them did have a scripture. The week leading up to this, I had tried looking stuff up. Every time I found something that I thought might work, it seemed... disingenuous. Back in high school, when I was a YAC member (YAC = Youth Ambassadors for Christ = Diocesan youth council for Galveston-Houston... yeah, I was kind of a big deal), I still was never much for quoting the Bible. This might have something to do with the fact that my first 15 or so years of Bible-ing was in Vietnamese.

Anyway, I finally get up there and I have to hold back tears... and I remind Sarah of the time when I dramatically told her how much she meant to me right before my last show with her. I told her how for me, on this earth, I try to "find God" in everyday things... in her case... she is God personified. Is that sacrilegious? Possibly, but I don't know.

Anyway, I reminded everyone how much music means to me and how I chose some lyrics instead of a scripture... but since that's how I think God speaks to me... it's kind of the same thing :) I chose part of the second verse of the Regina Spektor song "On The Radio." Check it:

This is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took

And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood

And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

The Cause of Peace and Brotherhood

As I read more and more of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s autobiography, I become more and more amazed. I dog-ear pages where he says something particularly moving or still relevant. I have to be very conservative in this dog-earring of pages, cause if I wasn't, my book would be impossible to back with all it's dog-eared pages making it fatter and fatter at the top.

Anyway, I'm only maybe... 3/5 of the way through the book. It's been slow. Not because it hasn't been good, but I think mostly because I'm... a slow reader. I like things to sink in. I can't skim. If I even start to FEEL like I skimmed, I usually have to go back 2 pages or so to re-read to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Do you guys know how many times MLK had gone to jail? A lot. Like, a lot. At first it was just things to keep him off the streets and off the pulpit--traffic tickets, stuff like that. Then it was for violating injunctions on protests (despite the fact they were peaceful protests). He's spent time in a Montgomery, Albany and Birmingham jail. He also wrote a super long letter to some "don't-rock-the-boat" ministers & rabbis that had criticized him for coming into Birmingham and trying to stir up trouble. He wrote about 16 pages (well in my book) worth as a rebuttal to what those ministers and rabbis had said about him in a paper. All he had were scraps of paper and the margins of the newspaper to write on. He. Is. A. Badass. Is it okay to call an ordained reverend a badass? Whatevs. What's done is done.

Anyway, my inspiration board for today heavily features the Reverend King. The top right photo is probably one of my favorites. MLK just got convicted of "violating the state's anti-boycott law." His wife, the beautiful, faithful, loving, caring, nurturing, steadfast Coretta Scott King is seen giving her hubby a giant smooch after his conviction. He later wrote,

"Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind him would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile. I knew that I was a convicted criminal, but I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice. It was the crime of seeking to instill within my people a sense of dignity and self-respect. It was the crime of desiring for my people the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was above all the crime of seeking to convince my people that noncooperation with evil is just as much a moral duty as is cooperation with good."

See? Badass. In the middle, you see a photo of Rosa Parks. Also, a Grade A Badass. The middle is MLK with a photo of one of his biggest inspirations, India's Mahatma Ghandi. He practiced what he preached--nonviolent civil disobedience. Without Ghandi's trailblazing efforts to overcome his opposition through nonviolence, who knew if the leaders of our civil rights movement would've known to take the same steps?

If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare."

I can quote this man forever, but you see my point. Ever since I started reading this book, I've constantly tried to find arguments and parallels and instances where things Dr. King had said were still relevant today. While almost everything regarding race relations that he says is indeed still relevant today, I found a lot of what he said applicable to the struggle for LGBT (GLBT?) rights. I'll end this blog with one last thing that MLK said that really sparked something in me. I've always been a proponent of gay rights (omg, can we just fricken let them marry already?!) and what MLK said makes me really want to get out there. And... it also makes it disappointed in the church for not spreading the message of love when it comes to homosexuality. Then again, I've read (and seen banners) for a group at the UCC called "PRISM" and they are a group for LGBT (basically all non-heterosexual) Catholics who meet every Monday. I think I'd actually really like to go to meetings, just to learn more. Yes. I'm going to do that. Anyway, here's a few more words from the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There was a time when the Church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. [...] Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,
Martin Luther King, Jr.

*All excerpts were taken from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Edited by Clayborne Carson. If you're interested in this novel, you can purchase it here!

My Problem

I think my problem with keeping up with blogs is that I never feel like anything I have to say is that blogworthy. And if there IS something that's blogworthy, I feel like I'm not worthy of putting into words. Why does it matter? I'm not sure.

The other day at church the priest at the UCC gave a particularly good homily. He's probably normally good--I just rarely focus and pay attention. I'm normally just... staring at the floor. Or the ceiling. Or the Texas Revue shirt of the girl in front of me so I can look for Longhorn Singers on it. Anyway, he started off by talking about changes in the seasons. When he was younger, he'd look out his window and see all of the leaves falling off a tree. He said there was a bundle of leaves that just seemed to cling onto the tree. Everyday he'd wake up and cheer on those leaves that seemed so resistant to the changing of the seasons.

Then Spring came along and those leaves were still clinging onto this tree--this tree that was springing with new life! Beautiful green leaves! And yet, here's this bundle of dead leaves. It's hindering the tree of growing and breathing new life where there's this dead weight just clinging onto the tree and not letting go.

Moral of the story: Let go of all the dead weight that's holding you back from living life as best as possible.

This came right after I had a fairly difficult week dealing with the same kind of issues. That homily couldn't come at a better time. If I ever doubt that God really is listening and he really is there... I can just remember instances like this one. He's always there, I'm just not listening hard enough.

I'm probably staring at the ceiling.