David writes:
“And which song would you like played for the recessional?” I asked the couple. We sat in the small chapel where, in a couple of months, they would say their wedding vows.
“Well, we’ve thought about it. We’ll have sung a few hymns already in the service. We were wondering if we could have something a little different at the end. Do you know the Bellamy Brothers?”
“1970’s, country/soul, long hair, sideburns, wide collars, bell-bottom jeans?”
“The very ones. We’d really like the song ‘Let Your Love Flow’.
While they waited for the title to register on my face, she began to sing as he strummed air guitar: “Let your love flow like a mountain stream, and let your love grow with the smallest of dreams, and let your love show and you’ll know what I mean, it’s the season…” She brought it up on her phone to play the rest.
I smiled. Of course. Then, I crinkled my brow, reminding myself that I was being asked to assess its liturgical appropriateness: “…go stealin’ through the moonlit nights with your lover [?]…let your love fly like a bird on a wing…bind you to all living things [?]…So let that wonder take you into space and lay you under its loving embrace…” [?] Hmmm….
“All right, I think we could do that.”
“Great, we’ll download it and get it to the wedding stewards on a memory stick.”
I don’t remember many details from their wedding day. I’m pretty sure I made some attempt to connect the flowing love with the biblical love from Colossians 3: “Bear with one another…forgive one another…clothe yourselves in love…let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” But what sticks with me most was the exuberant roar of electric guitar right after I pronounced the final Amen…. then…“There’s a reason for the sunshine sky and there’s a reason why I’m feelin’ so high, must be the season when that love light shines all around us…”
I recall some faces (mostly the 40-50 somethings) lighting up and some heads bobbing. I can still picture the couple bopping down the aisle towards the door. Years later and that song still ushers me into church.
We’re currently in a season when nothing much seems to be flowing. For most of us, mountain streams are virtual. Other than birds on a wing, much of our flying is grounded. Affection is restrained. Patience is in short supply. Joy is muted. Finances are tight. Political good will is at a trickle. Singing is masked. Praise is muffled. Relationships are distanced.
And in the midst of all that, Jesus’ call to love remains loud. The invitation is to love God and love one another with everything we’ve got. Our neighbour is not to be merely tolerated or treated with wariness, but loved. These days I need more than an acoustic reminder to love. Crank it up to eleven.
Find out more about the Bellamy Brothers at bellamybrothers.com
