I’m glad that Living Faith Alliance Church has pastors who listen to God and have made themselves available to him. Take, for example, our executive pastor, George Davis. He is, on the one hand, known for having a “slightly skewed sense of humor,” if I may quote his LFA staff profile (here). On the other hand, he’s quite spiritually insightful.
For example, a week ago, he preached the exact sermon that my new wife, Ellie, and I needed to hear. His message—found here, on YouTube—touched on a few things, including the parable of the virgins, as recorded in Matthew, Chapter 25 (here). The parable discusses those who were found to be wise and others found to be foolish, those prepared for the bridegroom’s arrival and those who were not.
Pastor George asked us to consider which kingdom is the source of our strength and joy. In terms of the parable, the answer is: those who were eagerly anticipating the bridegroom’s arrival; those who had the King, Himself, as the source of their strength and joy—because the bridegroom is the coming King and the church is His bride.
And guess what day it was that our pastor had shared this message? It was on May 17th, which was to be the date that my wife and I had been eagerly anticipating to be married—that is, until a little thing called the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, the 17th, we had plans for a late-afternoon wedding at LFA; a reception at the Inn at Sugar Hill, in Mays Landing; and a honeymoon in the Poconos. But for the pandemic.
As it turned out, my wife and I were married in another state, back in March, right before the statewide lockdown had begun (I say, “Back in March,” as if that was years ago, because, by now, it seems like we’ve been married for years). There was no fanfare, reception, or announcement, aside from a Facebook post that made me wonder if the governor would be watching and we’d be investigated for unauthorized travel.
So, May 17th was somewhat bittersweet for me and mine. Though, as we were reminded, without any of the above happening for us, George’s message became a chance for us to remember that there’s more to be focused on here than a public wedding and reception. Without the realization of our original plans, we now had the opportunity to focus on another wedding; we had the chance to consider a much greater, more glorious wedding feast.
George asked us to set our eyes on another prize: a bigger, better wedding—the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. He asked us to consider an event where, unlike the foolish virgins of Matthew 25, the bride has “made herself ready, … arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:7-8, NIV, here).
As much as we were looking forward to our wedding day, with all the trimmings, Pastor George helped us adjust our minds. And he helped me to remember that, when I was young in the Lord, a singer/pianist named Keith Green gave me a heart for the great Marriage Feast.
Keith—whom I’ve been missing, ever since his untimely death in a plane crash, at age 28—wrote a song to his parents (found here, on YouTube). He wrote the song hoping to tell them that one day there would be a feast and only those responding to the invitation would be allowed to enter in. He said:
Close the doors, there're just not coming!
We sent the invitations out a long, long, long time ago—
We're still gonna have a wedding feast,
Big enough to beat them all!
The greatest people in the world just wouldn't come
So now we'll just have to invite the small!
Pastor George also looked at the work of the prophet Zechariah (shown below, in Michelangelo’s mind, on the Sistine Chapel). In Chapter Eight of the prophet’s work, we’re told that Jerusalem will be filled with:
Old men and old women [who] will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in. (v. 4-5, The Message, here)
George encouraged us to consider this passage as something that the Bride of Christ has to look forward to. That is, believers—those who consider themselves the bride, the Lamb’s wife (Revelation 21:9-21, found here)—can look forward to peace and safety within the walls of the New Jerusalem, and actually become Jerusalem, herself. Within this Jerusalem, where everyone is playing their part, will be all that is needed for the young to grow up in safety and the old to be well-taken care of.
Pastor George might have known that I was to be married on the 17th of May, as this may have been shared among the pastors, as a group. But he couldn’t have known about Zechariah, Chapter Eight, and that my wife and I had studied this passage just the day before his message. So, it was fresh in our hearts, from less than a day earlier.
How could his sermon, as a whole, be so in sync with the place that Ellie and I were, that very weekend? He couldn’t have known. He couldn’t have addressed us so specifically, had not the Spirit of God been with him to confirm to us God’s message to our hearts. Yet, he did address us quite specifically, speaking to us just what we needed to hear—by being the vessel we needed to speak to us, that day.
***
We are thankful for Pastor George. We’re grateful that he was available to God on the 17th of May, to share with us a comforting message. We appreciate that he was there for us, to tell us God knows of our disappointment and understands our hearts. We’re blessed to have a pastor who would share a message that would tell us we will always have another wedding date, one that cannot be cancelled.
I’m grateful for a man of God, such as Pastor George Everett Davis, one with a sense of humor at least as skewed as mine. I’m happy that, because of his sense of humor, I can get away with titling this post “In Praise of George,” because he knows that I know better than to actually praise him, where the praise really belongs to God. (Sorry about that; I had to get the reader’s attention! 😉)
I’m grateful for the God of all comfort. I’m thankful for He who would use a humble man like George and reach down to my wife and I, in our disappointment, and encourage us.
I’m blessed to know that God would turn to us and assure us that any wedding plans we might have had in mind—or still have, for that matter—cannot compare to all that God has in mind, when his Son, betrothed to the church, finally invites us all in to celebrate with Him the union of us, his people, with His Son, the Lord our God.
—Kevin Hutchins
