Holy cow!

Friends of mine recently asked me to serve as the officiant for their wedding. The one small obstacle to my saying 'yes' was that I'm wasn't a minister.

But apparently it's not that hard to become one... So I went online, and - voila - I'm "Reverend Smith." I can't say that it doesn't feel a little - okay, a lot - 'hokey.' (My mom had to take two years of classes before she became ordained. I think it took me a minute and a half to fill out my name and address, and that was it... I'm not sure how that makes sense, but there it is.)

Now I'm feeling a little nervous about the service... Not that I don't have plenty to say about marriage and commitment... I do. It's just that this is a serious occasion as well as a joyous one, and I want to treat it as such. And impersonating a minister feels like a silly (and vaguely disrespectful) start...

I suppose I don't need to have experience to do this. They haven't asked me to do heart surgery. (Thank goodness - I don't think I could have gotten my credentials for that online...) I have access to lots of great writing - and some great minds - and I'm sure that by the time I've organized my thoughts into some sort of coherence, I'll be ready...

At least I hope I will - because I don't know what the rules are about ruining a wedding. I'd hate to end up in Hell because I didn't read the fine print...