GOD SHOWS UP AT A WEDDING RECEPTION

On a recent summer night, high above the night lights of Chicago, a remarkably unremarkable event was playing out. A festive wedding reception at a swank downtown hotel. What made it unremarkable is that thousands are taking place every day -- same gowns and flowers and toasts. What made it remarkable is I was there -- shattering an old man's vow about these affairs.

However, poking over salad, this old man gradually found a succulent metaphor in all this. In a country and in an age when so many rancorous divisions are tearing at the body politic, here was an evening where union seemed at work.

Just looking down at the great city, it was joyfully apparent that old and new Chicago were in architectural union. Soaring glass & steel towers standing comfortably next to century-old, red-brick constructions. All blended together as if they were planned this way.

Looking around the room, a sense of union was here too. Not only the union of an eager young bride and groom, but also of far-distant families and uniquely-distinguished generations. Faces and fortunes and feelings that up until this night had walked their separate ways; now, at least for this brief shining moment, the many parts seemed to fit into one.

Might the metaphor have legs...? Is there something about such an unremarkable event that can be a remarkable model for additional unions and harmonies...? Who's to say. One thing the old fella learned tonight was the new God Apps. Oh yes -- now every person in this room with an Iphone (can there be any without?) can now get a brand, spanking new application that accesses information and data about God!

Voila, today's passionate believers and non-believers alike can access clever arguments and rebuttals right on their phone screens! Say, whole new vistas of theology can now be accessed right wherever you are. Cliffnotes for the seekers & scoffers. One staggers at the thought of Aristotle, Augustine and Descartes themselves having nifty, fast Iphones in their otherwise slogging pursuit of ultimate truths.

Well, back to my salad. And to new doubts about ever showing up at one of these affairs again...