SUNDAY NIGHT

Sunday night.

A weekend of weekends:

Friday, our 44th anniversary.
Saturday, the marriage of our Step-Granddaughter.
Sunday, a brunch for the wedding party at our Daughter’s home.
Monday, a once-postponed luncheon in a 19th Century village with two friends and later dinner with out-of-town guests at our home.

So far, so good.
This old fella is holding up.
But my goodness.

Anyway, once again it is late and once again I sit down to right shortly before midnight.

The wedding was picture perfect.
The entire package, the church and the wedding ceremony; the wedding party itself; the guests; the band; the venue; the whole undertaking functioned in the way of a well-oiled machine.

It was blisteringly hot outside but the small church was blessedly airconditioned.

The minister was obviously beloved by the family and very much at ease in carrying out his clerical duties.

Dear Wife and I had no duties to perform and I was free to be the interested spectator, the loving Grandparent.

And then I thought of Gertrude Himmelfarb.

Now, I have no idea how many of my most cherished readers are familiar with the work of this formidable intellect.

But I ran across her some years ago and frankly had not thought of her for some time.

But into my mind one of her observations came.

And I pass it on.

I cannot list her academic, professional credentials right now because of the current disarray of my working library – but sufficient to say she was/is a distinguished professor emeritus at a distinguished university.

To the point: the ceremony was progressing nicely. Prayers were recited. Biblical passages were read. Hymns were sung. Advice of all sorts was given.
All was done in accordance with a tradition evolved over the centuries, for better or worse.
Countless generations saw and heard versions of the service we saw and heard and did what they could with the received teachings.

And now, this past weekend, we were a part of that line of tradition. We saw and heard and then went forth to do what we could with the received teachings and admonitions.

All and good.

And then I thought of one of the teachings, the warnings, of Gertrude Himmelfarb and my mind turned to what might be happening to the centuries old traditions of holy matrimony.

And more importantly perhaps, to what might consequently be happening to related parts of our social fabric.

To be specific: Dr. Himmelfarb observed some years ago that when the abnormal becomes the normal, then eventually, the normal will become the abnormal.

And the alarm flag went up.

Well, it has been up, but it went up a little higher this time.

Marriage between one man and one woman has been the norm for a very long time. It has been supported by our legal system and it in turn supports that legal system.

The relationship has consequences.
I will not list them now.

If this set of relationships is stripped of its legal and religious ‘uniqueness’, and made just one of several ways of organizing our living arrangements, if what has been considered ‘abnormal’ is accorded identical legal/religious protection, if it is made normal, what will happen to the normalness [I know, grammar], the legal/religions sanctions which have attached to the historical understanding of marriage?

And, what will be the result of the changes to our social fabric?

I wonder if those folks who push for new definitions of marriage have really thought through the consequences of ‘new normals’.

Traditions are important. They are the life experiences of a people. They influence, more or less powerfully, what a people will do under any given set of circumstances.

Tinker with them, allow some to die or some to grow stronger, and you will affect how the people will react to challenges which will inevitably come.

As our new, interim Pastor is fond of saying at the end of his sermons, "A thought."