Mary O

Local Red Cross volunteers go places that the news rarely bothers with: http://oshma.net/WordPress

Last year, hundreds of people posted questions asking how to get to go to Haiti to do disaster relief. How many actually joined an organization like the Red Cross? How many went to the required classes, got certified, and responded to local disasters in the intervening year?

I belong to a church that often gets visitors who show up, look around, and say, "What a lovely place! We'd like to get married here." Our clergy explain that we have rules, including successful completion of at least four counseling sessions--roughly centered around conflict resolution, sex, money, and children--and active attendance for at least a year. We explain that we take marriage very seriously and that we expect the community to be supportive of the couple. Often the visitors claim we're being "rude" or "unfriendly" because we don't let them wander in and merely use the church as a prop house.

So, why would anyone want a church wedding when they don't care about the actual church commitment?