I write to you from Treaty 45 ½ Territory stewarded by the Anishanaabek Nation, The People of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Pottawatomi Nations. On this land, there has been a rich storytelling tradition that has formed this area into what it is today.
As a LifeCycle celebrant, I have considered all of the stories that have formed how I define “me” and my own identity. I reflect on the storytelling traditions that have shaped us and the many groups I belong to. As I dig into my story and our story, I am also asked to consider how it reflects THE (much larger and more universal) story. I see this as part of my task as a celebrant and minister.
I sense we live in an increasingly polarized and fragmented world. Are you Republican or are you Democrat or for us Canadians, Liberal or Conservative? Are you pro- this or anti- that? I sense we have forgotten who we really are as we live in fear of “them” to better protect “us” and it fragments our relationships with others and our earth. We have forgotten that we share a similar human journey of triumphs and trials, love and loss. We have forgotten that we belong to each other.
I see it in my role as a wedding celebrant to unify. It is obvious that I am marrying two people and moreover, two families and communities together through a personally meaningful and carefully crafted ceremony. All are there to witness, cherish, and celebrate the couple!
On this day, through storytelling and rituals, I remember that I am to facilitate the welcoming of all who are in attendance to a longer, more expansive table: one that embraces difference, that prioritizes love above all else, that shares a larger story. During the ceremony, attendees are able to look across the aisle with warm welcoming and recognize that despite the fact they are sitting on opposite sides, they are connected to each other. Everyone in attendance is reminded of the importance of accompanying and encountering each other, of the need to feel seen and heard, of nurturing a sense of belonging…overall, the universality of being human.
Story is how we remember…in hearing a love story, we are mirrored our own journeys. This micro-moment of each couple’s love story both reflects and nurtures the macro, much greater web of love that we need to be reminded that we are all part of. Ceremonies offer a reprieve from life’s chaos so we can remember who we really are and realign ourselves regarding what all of us were meant to be doing here in the first place: to love.
What a humble and important task. I pray that I may never take this for granted.
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