Lately I've been at an impasse.  Even though I have only written one submission, I have found I don't have much to say that relates to being a wedding officiant.  I have joined several social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, and several wedding-related sites) but have not found many people like myself.  In fact, when I searched for "Wedding Officiant" or "Minister/Pastor" on any of those sites, my profile is the only one that came up on several of them.  I guess that can be a good thing - untapped resource and all, but I really didn't know what to do with it and I still didn't know what to say...

That was until today.

I came across a blog from the Huffington Post by John Shore titled "What Would Jesus Do If Invited to a Gay Wedding? " Intriguing title, no?  I mean, after all that has happened in the past year here in California with Proposition 8 and the rest of the country going back and forth on the same-sex marriage issue, this blog is sure to strike a chord (disharmonious for some) in us all.

Now, I'm not going to take this opportunity to expound Biblical references to make that point; Mr. Shore did just fine by me. Mr. Shore was debating whether or not as a Christian, if he should attend a few gay weddings he had recently been invited to.  His inward debate resulted in 244 comments at last count.  I wonder if he had anticipated such reaction...

There is also a debate of what kind of man Jesus was.  I think Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code created quite a controversy with the possibility that Jesus had been married and...OMG had children.  My husband and I have even had discussions about who Jesus was and is in relation to today's social norms and expectations.  I've come to the conclusion that Depeche Mode was right - we each have our "Own Personal Jesus."

Anyway, I can't help but think of the possibilty that my Jesus indeed attended a homosexual union.  Since there is evidence of such marital relationships in Roman times, why not Biblical times?  And just because it isn't written in the Bible doesn't mean it didn't happen.  Shore's blog says basically the same.  Jesus surrounded himself with theives, tax collectors, and even a protitute, but it was the Pharisees who used God's law to judge and punish other that really ticked him off. To quote Mr. Shore:

"Around Jesus you can whine, lie, shift your loyalties, be late, be greedy, be too ambitious, be stupid, be a coward, be a hypochondriac, constantly complain, fall asleep at every wrong moment -- you can do nothing right, and it won't in the slightest way seem to offend him. But you put dogma ahead of empathy? You transmogrify God's law into a justification for denying God's grace?

Then ... yikes, man. Then you've got yourself a problem no one wants."

He decided to attend the weddings, by the way, because he realized it is the right thing to do, as he would expect people he invite to attend his special events.  But I think it's more than that.  Because our culture de-values marriage and there are so many couples that refuse to marry out of fear of divorce (which has increased 200% in the past 20 years), I think it even more important to support and bless ANY adult couple that has decided to take the lifelong vows of commitment to one another.  Marriages fail most of the time due to lack of support.  After being married to my husband for eight years, I still seek support from my family and close friends, which I don't see ever ending, as my mom also seeks support from her family and friends for her marriage.

So in answer to Mr. Shore's title question, I think yes, Jesus would have attended the wedding, danced the night away, and would have probably brought the wine!