Where there is love
Where there is love, there God is. We can call on God when we need help or inspiration! As a spiritual columnist I can attest to this process.
I was married in 1969 before the “Wedding Song” came along. I have been inspired by it many times, but it wasn’t until recently that I came across the full story of the grace inspired lyric.
In the fall of 1969 Paul Stookey received a request from his friend Peter Yarrow. Peter was getting married to Mary Beth McCarthy – yes, Peter, Paul and Mary. Stookey said yes.
A few days later Paul went to his basement studio, tuned up his twelve-string guitar and sat in silence. Then he prayed. "Lord, nothing would bless this wedding ceremony more than Your presence. How would You manifest Yourself?"
Then he picked up a pencil and began to write. God was invited to the wedding.
He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love
There is Love
God was indeed present at this wedding. Invited and present.
Well a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again
And there is Love
There is Love
Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
For if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love
There is Love
Oh, there is love! There is Love. Where two or more are gathered in God’s name, there is love. How many weddings have been graced by this song which began by inviting God to be present at the wedding of a friend?
The song ends with Oh, the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain / For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name / There is Love. God will remain in a marriage union that was gathered in his name. God chooses to remain. That marriage that has God as a partner is a solid marriage.
God’s presence in the composition of the song and the wedding that followed was so real that Paul Stookey never took a dime for the creation of this song. He established the Public Domain Foundation to receive every royalty the song would ever generate. He gave it away to charity. It was a gift from God.
He wrote it in an hour. He gave it away forever. "Into every songwriter's life comes a song, the source of which cannot be explained by personal experience," Paul said.
“The Wedding Song” was meant to be a private gift, never to be performed again. But weeks later, at a Peter, Paul and Mary concert, Peter leaned over and made a request. His wife was in the audience. Would Paul sing the song for her?
Paul stepped to the microphone and sang. The song touched people in ways Stookey hadn't anticipated. Sometimes the most powerful gifts are the ones we don't keep.
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