Celebration. Hope. Life.

by Leanne Shawler

Back in the beginning of May, two services, book-ending the week, really brought home to me how we celebrate life and have a solid hope for the future.

“Hope” used to be a wishy-washy word for me, dreaming of something not quite real, but that isn’t the case any more.

The first service was on the Monday and it was a celebration of Diane’s life. Diane, a Good Sammer, had died suddenly in April. I heard again and again, and found myself saying, that she was singing with the Lord in heaven. And I believed it. The hope of a life hereafter became, solid, real. In part because we at Good Sam often talk about the community of saints gathering with us each Sunday, and partly because I couldn’t imagine Diane anywhere else.

I think most people at the service on Monday believed it too, because we sang joyously and loud enough for her to hear us.  The San Diego Cursillo community came in force and their exuberant singing and clapping just lifted the place.

Which isn’t to say there were no tears or a feeling of bittersweetness. There were, of course, because we don’t get to see Diane anymore in this life.

At the end of the week, Saturday, I attended the wedding of our interim music director Tom, and his beautiful bride, Jennie. It was at Good Sam too, but as they’re members of the UCSD Newman Center, who share our space, it was a Catholic service. 

(c) 2011 Kristin Grinnell Photography

Both have the gift of music, but I didn’t expect the wedding couple to be so involved with the singing at the wedding. Jennie stood at the lectern and sang a beautiful piece from Song of Songs, to which there was a choral response. She has a gorgeous voice, but when Tom started singing back to her from the piano, I completely lost it and shed tears at the beauty and amazing love they expressed to each other.

click here to see the photo slideshow from their wedding (it takes quite a while to load, but if you click the little grey button bottom right that looks like a magnifying glass it will show you a lower resolution and thus faster). Jennie and Tom perform "This Little Light of Mine" (a different version from the traditional one) over the photos.

The joy just continued: the choir and musicians from the Newman Center, Tom and Jennie’s incredibly talented friends, all had a chance to share through song the joy and hope and promise of this wedding.

Made w/ Love Wedding Videography

And there were many tears shed too. My tears were tears were from the sheer beauty of the moment and of bittersweet joy, because Jennie has cancer, and so they’ve started their married life in one of the toughest situations a couple ever has to face. And they are doing it with such strength and joy, that I think they share the same solid hope as I do: that their marriage will last for many, many years.

Have you ever found joy in a bittersweet situation? Has hope ever become a real thing for you?