I'm officiating a wedding!!
My best friend and his fiance asked me to officiate their wedding. I think they asked me mainly because they've seen me perform in plays and do spoken word and poetry slam but also because we lived together for several years and they consider me family. They are both non-traditional people so I knew a priest or minister was not in the works. So, I got ordained at the Universal Life Church so I could officially sign the marriage license. I was just going to get a special dispensation from the County but my sister, actually, told me that she had officiated a couple weddings and had been ordained at the Universal Life Church so I checked it out and am proud to be a minister. I don't practice any religion and have some real problems with the most of the big ones but I have been struggling with the atheist label lately too. I guess I am more of agnostic in that I am not totally willing to discount the existence of a higher power. I certainly believe that there is something bigger going on. I just don't know what that is. I don't know if I will ever know. I don't know that anyone will ever know. I'm not sure it really matters. Anyhow, the Universal Life Church is sufficiently adogmatic that I felt comfortable signing up as a minister. That is all you have to do. Ask. Their tenet is that we are all ministers. All you have to do is express an interest and they will ordain you. Some may say it is cheap but I'm down with it. I've been giving advice and counsel for 20 years to the artists I manage and most of the time I feel like a priest in the church of Art. So now I've got a card and a parking placard!
Now, though, I find that my friends are hoping to engage the writer/producer in me as they have no ideas for their ceremony. Being put in charge, and standing up there running the whole thing, I feel the burden of producing a special moment for them. And I want to do that. They are great people and deserve a special moment. Unfortunately the wedding/relationship thing is not one of my areas of expertise so I'm studying and asking everyone I know. What to say? What to do?
Any suggestions from SG?
My best friend and his fiance asked me to officiate their wedding. I think they asked me mainly because they've seen me perform in plays and do spoken word and poetry slam but also because we lived together for several years and they consider me family. They are both non-traditional people so I knew a priest or minister was not in the works. So, I got ordained at the Universal Life Church so I could officially sign the marriage license. I was just going to get a special dispensation from the County but my sister, actually, told me that she had officiated a couple weddings and had been ordained at the Universal Life Church so I checked it out and am proud to be a minister. I don't practice any religion and have some real problems with the most of the big ones but I have been struggling with the atheist label lately too. I guess I am more of agnostic in that I am not totally willing to discount the existence of a higher power. I certainly believe that there is something bigger going on. I just don't know what that is. I don't know if I will ever know. I don't know that anyone will ever know. I'm not sure it really matters. Anyhow, the Universal Life Church is sufficiently adogmatic that I felt comfortable signing up as a minister. That is all you have to do. Ask. Their tenet is that we are all ministers. All you have to do is express an interest and they will ordain you. Some may say it is cheap but I'm down with it. I've been giving advice and counsel for 20 years to the artists I manage and most of the time I feel like a priest in the church of Art. So now I've got a card and a parking placard!
Now, though, I find that my friends are hoping to engage the writer/producer in me as they have no ideas for their ceremony. Being put in charge, and standing up there running the whole thing, I feel the burden of producing a special moment for them. And I want to do that. They are great people and deserve a special moment. Unfortunately the wedding/relationship thing is not one of my areas of expertise so I'm studying and asking everyone I know. What to say? What to do?
Any suggestions from SG?