Guy Sebastian embraces Papistry...
...well, at least for his Wedding. And no, I am not implying by that that he and his beloved were married according to the rites of the Catholic Church or by a Catholic celebrant--as far as I know, they used neither.
But as Mother Nagsus points out over at Cooees, they DID use a Papist shrine for the occasion. I left a comment there to the effect that they it was interesting that they prefered a Catholic church over an AOG barn.
Which reminds me of an interesting fact. Ceremonial lives on in popular rites of passage long after we have forgotten their original purpose. How many guests at a modern wedding ceremony have any idea why there is a cake and why the bride and groom have to cut it?
I don't have any sources for this, but the pop-wisdom is that when the puritans tried to do away with all papist ceremonies in England during the Republic, weddings were one area that refused to submit. Many later non-conformist churches (eg. old congregationalist churches even here in Australia) were built with two side aisles instead of a central aisle for the single purpose of preventing processions. Which might have suited the local pastor, but not the brides and brides' mothers who wanted to get married in such churches. It was, I understand, the pressure for a "traditional marriage procession" down the aisle that saw the restoration of central aisle in many of these anti-papist churches.
Today, we see that even Japanese couples want a "traditional western wedding" with all the trappings, and civil celebrants offer "chalices" of wine to couples to drink together "as a sign of their union". We can't blame the Sebastians too much then. Their puritan barns might suit their puritanical theology of worship, but when it comes to such key social occasions as a wedding, even the most ardent protestant will succumb to the very human instinct to lay on the ceremony with a trowel.
posted by Schütz @ 11:08 am
6 Comments
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6 Comments:
Did you watch - as most of Tasmania did - the wedding of Princess Mary to Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark? The Lutheran bishop officiated in a cope, except for the blessing at the end, when he changed into a chasuble and chanted the prayers. The reason? Clearly the Danes retained the skeleton of the old marriage rites, but ditched the Nuptial Mass held once the couple had made their vows, except for the blessings that used to be inserted after the Pater noster and at the end: and these they still perform vested in chasuble, as if at Mass, rather than in cope, as worn otherwise.
An excellent choice for the Sebastians' marriage ... followed by a reception at Luna Park and a party at the Zeta Bar. Guy once said in an interview that he was a Christian but didn't follow any particular religion. I think he just does Pentecostal because, um, he likes their style. If they'd been married in a paddock it wouldn't have surprised me.
Interesting, Josh. Very interesting. Adds some more weight to my theory...
But the wedding stands is miniscule compared to the marriage.
I have seen all pompt and traditionalism and what have you in a wedding only for it to break down after a couple of years.
It is not in the wedding that matters, it is what happens after that.
Whether barn or warehouse or garden, cathedral or basilica, the wedding is just the start of the hard work ahead, the hard work of learning that you are not the most important person in the world.
Let's see if us married folk can pass that.
LPC
ps... I hardly think that Guy can be classified as an 'ardent protestant'. Pentecostals are hardly ardent protestants, they are alien to Reformation Theology, they do not have a real clue what the Reformation was about.
LPC
I am a Pentecostal living in Japan. However, first and foremost I am an evangelical Christian. I'm not sure what the previous poster meant by Pentecostal believers being alien to Reformation Theology but that is not my focus here.
Your comments about Japanese weddings is what I am more interested in. I commend the Catholic church in Japan for ensuring that non-believers have between 3-5 months counseling before their wedding. Also, Catholics cannot be lumped in with
the perennial 'Fake Priest' headlines which feature in Japan.
Frankly though, the adoption of western Church culture without the substance of 'Holy Matrimony' is just so much froth in most Christian-style weddings in Japan.
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