musings of a restless spirit

Saturday, December 05, 2009

simply having a wonderful Christmastime...

On Friday night, Matthew, Charlotte, Jody, Julie, Cammi and I traveled to Lincoln for this year's "Behold the Lamb of God" Andrew Peterson concert. As you all know from posts past, this concert is one of the highlights of the Christmas season- it's actually a highlight of the year for me. It's one night where I get to hear mini-concerts, more or less, by many of the artists that I listen to all year long, like Andrew Peterson (obviously), Andrew Osenga, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Ben Shive, Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb. So the first half of the concert, the "in the round" part, is always fun for me. But then after the intermission they all get on stage and play through Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ, and I am moved every time. This year, I was holding Matthew's hand already, and during one song towards the end of the show I could tell that Charlotte, who was next to me on the other side, was particularly moved. She reached out and grabbed my hand and I just sat there, overwhelmed by the truth of the story, the goodness of God, celebrating it with some of the dearest people to me in my world. It was beautiful.

Before the show, I kept joking with Matt about how we needed to try to find Andrew Peterson so we could tell him our story, and the role that he played in it. I know I've told the story on this blog before, but I'll do so again. The story is that many years ago, the second or third time I'd ever even met Matt, we were all at dinner at Upstream after church one night, and Luke asked Matt who his favorite musical artist was. Matt said that it was a guy he'd probably never heard of named Andrew Peterson. Charlotte heard this and says to Matt "Nicole loves Andrew Peterson!" (at that time she herself was not yet a fan). So Matt and I talked about his music just for a few minutes, and I really didn't think anything of it. It really probably was the first time I'd ever talked to the guy. But then Charlotte and I got in the car after dinner and she says to me, "I think you're going to marry Matt." I asked her why she would think that. "You both love Andrew Peterson," she argued. I hardly knew him, and wasn't immediately interested. So I said, "Charlotte, a shared love for Andrew Peterson does not a successful relationship make!" And, well, we all know how that turned out!

So I kept telling Matthew that we needed to tell AP this story, not actually thinking we'd have an opportunity to do so. But we were all standing in the lobby after the concert, waiting for Matt to get back from the restroom. And then Cammi spotted Andrew Peterson there in the same lobby, not far from where we were. And I knew that even though I was all of a sudden feeling rather shy, that we had to do this or I would've regretted it. I anxiously waited for Matthew to return and as soon as he did, I grabbed him by the arm and we, for lack of a better term, chased Andrew Peterson down. :-) So we told him that we didn't want to take up much of his time, but that we wanted to tell him this story. I was nervous, so it was a bit rushed, but I did end with telling him that we are now getting married in June (actually, I said we were getting married in April and Matt had to correct me. I must've been confused since Charlotte was with us, and she's getting married in April! It was funny.), and that we've been to about six or so of his concerts together. He chuckled at the story and told us congratulations. Like I said, the story came out rushed and a bit awkward, but I knew I'd regret it if we didn't seize the opportunity to tell him about the role his music has played in Matthew and I's love story. So here we are, the Prophetess, me, Andrew Peterson, and Matthew.


And the wonder of Christmas has continued to manifest itself throughout this weekend. Last night, the Mackey's hosted a Christmas party at their house for the whole church. My friend Stacy is an amazing hostess. Their home is so beautiful and warm and festive. There were yummy Christmas cookies and punch and sweet decorations. The night ended with London on his guitar leading us all in Christmas hymns, followed by some worship songs we sing in church. There were probably 30-40 people crammed into the living room and kitchen, all singing praise together. It made for such a beautiful picture of community. It was a great party.

I really love this time of year...