The Fun Things I Get to Do as a Parish Priest

I write this letter hurriedly between hors d’oeuvres and dinner following the lovely wedding this afternoon of Gavin Keachie and Sarah Hamilton. 

There are many things I love about the traditional marriage liturgy in our prayer book, but perhaps my favourite is the scolding tone of the address at the very beginning of the liturgy, where I get to set out in no uncertain terms exactly why we are where we are and precisely why we are doing what we are doing, ending rather sententiously with:

Therefore if anyone can show any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined  together, speak now, or else hereafter for ever hold your peace.

I always pause dramatically at that point and wait a beat or two, and oftentimes will break the tension by looking at the couple and saying, sotto voce, “So far, so good.” They’ve passed the first hurdle. But there’s one more up ahead to clear, and I next harangue the happy couple by saying, “I require and charge you both in the Name of God, from whom no secrets are hid, that if either of you know any impediment, why you may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, you do now confess it. For be ye well assured, that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God’s Word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their Matrimony lawful.” At this point in today’s wedding, I had reason to be particularly scrupulous. It didn’t escape my notice that the mother of the groom, The Rev’d Dr. Karen Hamilton, read the first lesson and the mother of the bride, The Rev’d Dr. Catherine Sider-Hamilton, read the second lesson. 

Though both Gavin’s mother and Sarah’s father were born Hamiltons, the bride and groom assured me they were not in violation of the “Table of Kindred and Affinity: Wherein Whosoever Are Related Are Forbidden to Marry Together” as found in The Book of Common Prayer. Being satisfied that I was not about to be party to something out of a Greek tragedy or Shakespearean farce, and having failed to convince anyone in the congregation to leap up yelling “J’accuse!” it was clear I couldn’t knock off early and go home as I was vainly hoping might happen. Maybe someday we’ll discover a would-be bigamist at this point in the liturgy, but so far the weddings over which I’ve officiated have been pretty tame. Mothers with the same surname is about as close as I’ve gotten. 

Of course, their surnames weren’t the only noticeable things about these mothers. Both were billed as “The Rev’d. Dr.” As it turns out, Gavin’s mother is not only a retired United Church minister, but also served as general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches from 2002 to 2017. Before that she was the senior minister of St. James-Bond United Church in Toronto. (At first I misread that as “St. James Bond” and got excited. When was 007 canonized in the United Church, I wondered? When I realized my mistake, I was shaken, not stirred.) To top it all off, I also discovered that The Rev’d Dr. Karen Hamilton has taught as an adjunct at Trinity College, where the wedding reception was held. 

Just across the street, of course, is Wycliffe College, where The Rev’d Dr. Catherine Sider-Hamilton, an Anglican priest, has taught New Testament and Greek. She’s now retired from parish ministry and is most often seen in the 9:30 congregation with her husband, David, and singing in the Evensong choir alongside her children Sarah (the bride) and Nick. Her other son, Robert, is an organist and composer and was our guest organist at the wedding. (He also played the piano for a solo sung by Nick.)

If you want to celebrate with the Keachies and the Hamiltons, you can do so via the recording of the wedding livestream. Fun fact: the father of the bride is the chair of the Livestream Ministry Support Team!

These are the fun things I get to do as a parish priest. Aside from joining non-related Hamiltons in marriage by presiding over their weddings, I also get to join our definitely related Sung Mass and High Mass congregations together tomorrow as I preside over a special Vestry meeting following a combined BCP Mass for Trinity Sunday. We are welcoming back as celebrant and preacher our beloved honorary assistant priest Fr. Theo Ipema, who has just wrapped up a stint as an interim priest elsewhere in the diocese. 

All are welcome at the 10:30 Mass, 12:00 Coffee Hour, and 12:30 Vestry Meeting tomorrow, and you don’t have to be a voting member to stick around for the last part of these gatherings. It will be relatively brief, as we seek approval to move forward with a plan for handling the bill-payment timing issues that a one-year construction project and five-year capital campaign entails! But between now and then, I’m going to enjoy a little wedding cake. 

Yours in Christ’s service,

Nathan J.A. Humphrey

VIII Rector

 The reception before dinner was in the quadrangle of Trinity College. 

I’m always inspired by the inscription on this monument drawing attention to the vision of the first Bishop of Toronto and founder of Trinity College, John Strachan: “Pause a moment, friend, and look around. All that you see began as a gleam in this man’s eye.”