Sacred Dance of Love

The Wedding Ceremony for Zachary Grano Gordon and Maura Elizabeth Kean

Nashville, Tennessee The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling    Romans 12: 9-13

Good evening, family and friends of Zach and Maura! We are delighted that you are here to celebrate the blessing of their marriage and their love for you and for each other. My name is Nancy Gossling, and I have been a priest in the Episcopal Church for over 20 years. I am honored and deeply humbled to have been invited into the lives of Maura and Zach this past year, as I prepared them for this day and for their marriage in the years to come. As they make their vows to one another today, they have also invited God to be part of their union. It is no longer a two-for but a 1 + 2 = 3.

Music is important to both Zach and Maura, and in the Sound of Music, the nuns sing a song about Maria, how hard it is to “pin her down.” That was my problem with both Zach and Maura. He writes songs like the Irish and she cooks pasta like an Italian. He chops veggies with meticulous precision while she creates a gingerbread house in minutes. Maura can sit down at the piano, read the notes, and begin to play, while Zach just needs to hear the melody.

No less important to Zach and Maura is dancing. Concentrating on getting the steps to the foxtrot just right, Zach has taken his dance lessons seriously, while Maura is a girl who, in the words of Zach, “just wants to have fun.” She can line dance with the best of them and he can cover the runway, with spins and dips like a twirling dervish. 

Admirably, they encourage each other to dance to their own music and to sing their own songs while maintaining a solid foundation. Their home has been built upon shared values, honest conversations, and love. Side by side, dance partners for life, they create beautiful music together. 

There is a term in ancient Christian history called perichoresis which is also used for a typical Greek wedding dance. In this dance, there are not two dancers, but at least three.They start to go in circles, weaving in and out, faster and faster, while staying in perfect rhythm with each other.They are dancing so quickly, yet effortlessly, that they become a blur; all the while maintaining their individual identities. 

The Church fathers described the Trinity as a perichoresis, a holy and harmonious relationship in which there is mutual giving and receiving between the three persons of the Trinity. This is God’s sacred dance of love. So, “let your love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”

While today may seem like a blur, and the dancing may leave you breathless at times, Zach and Maura, you will have each other, your families and friends, and God to sustain you in the years to come. 

There is a song about Jesus called Lord of the Dance with a refrain that goes like this: "Dance, dance, wherever you may be! I am the Lord of the Dance," said He. "I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the Dance," said He.

Dear Maura and Zach, when you’ve forgotten your love song or the steps to your own sacred dance, or the needle keeps skipping on the vinyl, don’t forget that the Lord of the Dance will lead you, wherever you may be. And the sound of music will echo once again in your ears. Amen.