Joanna (my sister-in-law) and I went to my friend Susanna’s wedding and it was… interesting. The service was VERY Calvary Chapel. The music was praise music and very redemption-centered. Wayne (Sus’ husband) accepted Christ before she did (her acceptance came on 9/11) and the ceremony had an altar-call of sorts. Joanna is very agnostic and I owe her big time for making her sit through a lot of the service, especially the vows which were REALLY patriarchal in my humble opinion. (Note: This is coming from Jen who is totally down with having God as her Heavenly Father.) I was really glad to be there and it was so wonderful to hear Sus squealing and laughing as she came down the aisle.

The reception was… interesting and very full of Christian kitsch. The wedding favors were Christmas ball ornaments with “Susanna and Wayne Burrow, December 7, 2002” on one side and a Scripture reference on the other that was “God appointed for [us] to read”. There were also crocheted Cross bookmarks at each place to remind us of the saving value of the Cross. Scattered across the table were TestaMints — you get the picture. (I will say that the Testamints amused me greatly.) The bride-and-groom talent show was spectacular and I was able to politely roast Sus at the reception. (I threatened to tell stories about our time at UCSC. I politely refrained though.)

I will say this… I prayed for a long time for Susanna to accept Christ and it came on 9/11. The pastor was commenting during the service that such a thing redeems the day. Sorry… it doesn’t redeem the day but… her acceptance of Christ does answer my prayers and I am thankful that she is with Jesus now. I’ve been praying for her for quite a few years and when I finally got to talk to her, I told her that she really should have emailed me when she accepted Christ. She laughed (which was music to my ears despite the high decibel level) and I have to admit — though none of our mutual college friends were there (possibly because she lost touch with a lot of people after college and many would probably remind her of her BC life), I am SOOOOO happy to have flown out to see her on her special day.