miracles

David Atkinson

This morning, wakened early by yesterday's indulgence in an iced coffee drink, I joined royal wedding viewers.  It wasn't something I'd planned to do, but chagrin faded with the realization that television stations in the U.S.A., with those in Great Britain and around the world, were covering a worship service, and without commercial interruption.
What constitutes a miracle?
This was a convergence of human choices.
A couple's choice to marry.
A country's choice to maintance the symbols of monarchy.
Western culture's choice to go all out celebrating love, commitment and family. Media businesses' choices to give the people what they want, unobstructed viewing.
As a result of these cumulative choices, millions of people around the globle simultaneously "took part" in worship.  We listened to prayer saturated,  God-centered scripture, message, and music.  The couple made their vows in sacred time and space.  It was a stark contrast to the previous day's dominant wedding topics:  what would people be drinking and when & what would "the dress" look like?  Millions of people experienced "reverenance."  For some it will remain a novelty.  Others' souls will be permanently stirred. Some will busily adjust their own wedding staging.  Others will take to heart words that grounded the new marriage in God's love and purpose.
A miracle is evidence of God's grace overcoming human convention and physical limitations. What we make of a day like this, generously shared, is evidence of how open we are to experiencing God in what we are given.