Bishop Michael Curry, the leader of the Episcopal Church, quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the "power of love" as he blessed the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. USA TODAY
I hadn’t planned on watching the royal wedding, but I woke up early and it had captured all the news outlets. As the ceremony rolled along, I could not help thinking about Charles and Diana’s wedding.
She was only 19 and had no idea what she was getting herself into. She had probably been pushed into it by her father. Charles wanted to marry Camilla, but that was considered out of the question. He was matched with Diana, whose virginity had to be vouched for medically and publicly proclaimed. The marriage was a disaster. Diana, and really Charles as well, were sacrificed on the high altar of tradition.
Had the marriage worked, Harry would not have married Meghan. Diana and Charles suffering through a wretched marriage liberated their sons to choose their own wives. It liberated Harry to marry a divorced, biracial, American woman. Tradition served the royal family so poorly they abandoned it. It is one of those ironies of history that fascinate me. There are always unintended consequences, forces at work beyond anyone’s control. When Diana was struggling through very real marital and mental difficulties that threaten to destroy her, she could not have known that her misery was going to set free the two people she loved best in this world, her sons.
Because of this wedding, Bishop Michael Curry had the opportunity to deliver a message to millions of people. The descendant of slaves was called to deliver a message as another descendant of slaves married into the the British royal family. He said, “Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in history ... grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world. And a movement mandating people live and love, and in so doing, to change not only their lives but the very world itself. I am talking about some power - real power.”
Just one day before, a student in Texas took his hatred and his father’s guns to school to exact revenge on classmates he didn’t like.
Ask most anyone and we will say we deplore what the shooter did. And we will applaud the sermon of Bishop Curry. Talk is cheap.
But the toxic culture that has taken root in the United States and other places as well has more in common with the message of the shooter than the message of Bishop Curry.
While none of us would endorse the actions of the shooter, it is tempting to believe what he believed, that we are under assault from enemies, that the power of force, the power of the gun, the power of power is much greater than the power of love, that we must do what we can to destroy or at the very minimum gain power over our enemies. We think the power of good, the power of love, is pretty weak tea compared to fire power and domination.
It is easier to trust in the power of domination and hatred. Decisions are clearer. The path is well marked because it has been taken so often. The power of love Bishop Curry talked about is harder and decisions are less clear. The only reason I find it a possibility is the same reason the British royal family decided giving Prince Harry their blessing to marry Meghan: we tried the other path already. Let’s try something else.
After Bishop Curry’s sermon, a choir sang Ben E. King’s, “Stand by Me.”
When the night has come, and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light we’ll see. I won’t cry, I won’t cry, No I won’t be afraid, just as long as you stand by me. If the sky we look upon, should tumble and fall or the mountains crumble to the sea, I won’t cry ... as long as you stand by me.
What is it going to be? Are we going to tear each other apart and drown in our own hatred, dysfunction, and even blood, or are we going to take another path? What would that other path look like? I don’t know because it is barely a little footpath compared to the superhighway of domination, hostility and lies we are currently traveling. I do know that when commencement speaker Rex Tillerson makes headlines by telling VMI graduates that we need to insist on the truth, something has gone terribly wrong. Didn’t your parents tell you that when you were 2?
The night has come; the land is dark. There is a little bit of moonlight. But it is light enough if we can speak insist on truth spoken with love. We can to forge a better path. Truth and love. Truth and good will. Every day.
Write to Staunton columnist Patricia Hunt at phunt@marybaldwin.edu.