Nat and Nick's Wedding

On Friday I had the pleasure of going to Nat and Nick's wedding. It really was a great time.

The wedding was at St Aldates Church in Oxford which is a very nice place indeed, although I did spot a masonic symbol on a wooden panel inside the building. That point aside, the place was very nice.

One amazingly awesome moment was when Nicky, the bride, entered the ceremony. It was the most spectacular entrance of a bride I've ever seen. No, she didn't abseil from the ceiling or ram-raid through the wall (although they would be fun) but she had the most amazing music ever.

In keeping with the North American way of doing weddings, the bridesmaids came down the aisle first. They came one at a time, interspersed with the occasional flower girl distributing petals on the floor and not quite seeing what all the fuss was about. Just as the last bridesmaid reached the front, the music reached its climax and in came the bride and her father, a beautiful sight to behold as the choir sang. The track they used was Benedictus from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins.

I played bass with the band, since Joel couldn't make it. I've played a few times before although not very much. The church had a bass so I just had to show up and use it. However, when I got there I discovered it was fretless. In case you don't know, playing a fretless bass means you have to get your fingers in EXACTLY the right position or the note will be out of tune. I'm not sure, but I don't think I'd ever played one before. Well, I played at the wedding all right. By the end of the practice I had a blood blister and a regular blister on my two "plucking" fingers. It went ok, though.

One of the other cool things that happened that day (though not as spectactular as Nicky's entrance) was seeing The Queen. Yes, I really did. It turns out that while the wedding was in progress, Her Majesty was visting Christ Church just across the road from St Aldates. After the bridal party left, some of us were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time as The Queen's car left Christ Church and drove right past us.

Being the organised sort, I had my camera phone close to hand and made sure to capture the moment as best as I could. The Queen was sitting in the back-right seat, wearing a pink suit and matching hat. She waved to the crowd as she passed but since she was on the far side, I didn't get the best view. Still, for one brief moment I saw her and that was amazing in itself.



I was thinking of how much we lowly people get excited about seeing the rich and famous. I don't tend to be really interested in the private lives of celebrities or any of that sort of thing, but it was special to see The Queen. We waited there for some time but there were those who had waited much longer. I'm sure there were those who waited for hours and their reward was a passing glimpse of the head of The United Kingdom - a genuine royal figure.

Although the experience was so transient, each person's life was changed for ever. I'm sure all of them would have told at least someone that they saw The Queen that day. Something of that magnitude has to be passed on.

Having said all that, consider our response in church when we meet with God. Do we really believe we've met with the creator of the universe? Do we honestly think that we've had a moment where someone more powerful than The Queen has not only passed and waved but stopped and interacted with each and every one of us on a deeply personal level? I think half the time we think we made the whole thing up.

I know I've had experiences of God. I have no doubt about that. However, I don't know if it's the invisible and therefore less tangible nature of God or if it's simply the enemy sowing doubt, but we feel incapable of talking to other people about it sometimes. Maybe we think they just wouldn't believe it. I don't know quite what it is, but I know I was much more of an evangelist for my queen encounter than I've been for any of my God encounters, and that's something that concerns me.