I used to say that church attendance always went up on Mother’s Day and down on Father’s Day. My theory was that when children asked their mother what she wanted for her special day she might say, “Lets all go to church together.” When those same children asked their father what he wanted for his special day, he might say, “Lets all go to the lake (or fishing, or some other activity.) However, today, I think that our family will make a bit of an impression at our church. I also suspect that attendance won’t be don at our church today because in addition to our family, there is a baptism. Baptisms usually bring out extended family groups.

Even with the baptism, I’ve got a pretty good shot at having one of the biggest family groups at church today. We had more than twenty for supper last night. We’ve got a pretty good gang assembled. And we have a story about why our family is gathering this weekend instead of next weekend.

The occasion for our family gathering is the celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary. It seems like those 50 years went by pretty quickly. At least that’s how it feels from this point of view. 50 years hasn’t always seemed like a short time, however. Shortly after we were married we attended a 50th wedding anniversary celebration at our church. I remember thinking what a long time 50 years is and wondering what it might be like to be that old.

Today is not the actual day of our anniversary, however. That comes on Thursday. We were married one week after my 20th birthday on June 22, 1973. It was a Friday evening and there ceremony was at the church of Susan’s family: Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Billings, Montana. The next day, Saturday, June 23, 1973, Dave and Karen Calabrese were married across the country. We didn’t know them at the time and knew nothing of their celebration. We met on the occasion of another wedding celebration - the wedding of our daughter to their son. Since our daughter and her husband have two 50th wedding anniversary celebrations to attend this month, we were glad to work with Karen and Dave so that they could attend both celebrations. Our daughter and her family drove from their home in North Carolina to his parent’s home in Virginia last week. They flew from there to our home and are celebrating with us this weekend. Then, next week, they will fly back to Washington, DC to be in Virginia for the celebration of his parent’s 50th anniversary. So this weekend is the time we invited family and friends to gather.

This morning we will stand up in front of our church and repeat our marriage vows. Although I’ve officiated at marriage vow renewal ceremonies for couples celebrating different anniversaries, we have never formally renewed our vows. It didn’t seem necessary. The vows we took at our wedding seemed sufficient to bind us together for all of these years. I am, however, looking forward to standing in front of our family and friends and the whole church and once again saying, “Susan, I give myself to you to be your husband. I promise to love and sustain you in the covenant of marriage, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, as long as we both shall live.” I’ve officiated at enough weddings, and said those words after saying, “please repeat after me” enough times that I have the vows memorized. They aren’t the exact words we said to each other at our wedding. We had worked with our minister to create a slightly customized version of the traditional vows for the occasion. I do remember being nervous about memorizing the vows. A wedding and the exchange of vows is a pretty emotional time. At least it was for me. I had trouble saying the words while looking into the face of my beloved.

I expect this morning’s exchange of vows to be equally emotional for me. When I stop to think about it, the whole thing of being married is a pretty incredible stroke of good luck for me. Being married has been just the right thing for me. I have truly been “loved and sustained” in that covenant.

I do remember thinking, when we got married, that I would like to be a father one day. I wasn’t in a hurry at the time. I was, after all, only 20 years old. Almost eight years later, when I did become a father, it was an equally emotional time. Now our son is 42 years old and a father. Our daughter is just a couple of years younger and his a son of her own.

One of the great joys of my life is seeing our children in loving marriages and seeing them as parents. It has been such a good thing for me to be a father that being parents is something I wanted for both of our children. And both of them are very good parents.

A bit of historical trivia adds a bit of depth to our family’s celebrations this weekend. We are in Washington state, the first state to officially recognize Father’s Day as a holiday. In July of 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored a father’s day recognition. The next year, Spokane, Washington, celebrated a Father’s Day event. One year later, in 1910, our state held its first statewide Father’s day on June 19, 1910. 113 years later, we’re still celebrating the occasion. It somehow seems fitting that our family is gathering in Washington state for our celebration.

Our church’s sanctuary is arranged with a central chancel with three aisles radiating to the corners of the room. As a result the pews are shortest in the front rows and get longer each row that is father from the chancel. I think we have enough family to fill a pew that is not far from the back of the church. Even if we sit in several different rows, which is likely for a family as diverse as ours, we’re likely to have enough folks to be recognized.

It’s going to be a good day. And, after 50 years, I have no hesitation about renewing the promises that have added so much to my life thus far. I wouldn’t hesitate to sign up for another 50. Being a father makes it even more fun.