I have been excited to share the news about my engagement to my fiancé Stephen. This past week, we sent out an invitation to the congregation inviting you to our wedding on July 26^th and we hope you will attend! As the wedding approaches, we are putting together all of the details for our service and reception.

This past weekend, my Mom, sister, and I went shopping for my wedding dress. My sister, my Matron of Honor, made the arrangements for appointments at two different bridal shops. On Friday, I had my first appointment at a place here in Charlotte. It was a bright and beautiful boutique that featured select designers. The whole room was filled with beautiful gowns, each one having their own distinct beauty.

I was very excited to look for my wedding dress. I didn’t know quite what to expect in the process. I used to watch the show “Say Yes to the Dress” on Lifetime that featured brides looking for their perfect dress. The attendants listen for the bride’s preferences and try to help them find the perfect style and fit. Sometimes there are tears, frustration, and finally joy. They eventually find the dress and they say, “Yes to the dress!”

Going into my appointment, I hoped I would find the right dress, but I couldn’t imagine having that type of clarity. I was a little concerned because I can take a long time to make a decision. I once spent 40 minutes in a grocery store aisle choosing a salad dressing. I wasn’t sure how I would make this decision.

They brought my first beautiful dress. It was great. Then my second. It was great. Then the third and fourth, and they were all so beautiful in their own way, but I didn’t know how I would decide. The words, “You will just know” came to mind, but I told my consultant that I was starting to get concerned that I wouldn’t be able to make up my mind.

Then, the fifth dress came, and as I was putting it on, I said to myself and her, “This is it. This is the one.”

And it was!

I was so happy and relieved to have found the one, and when we drew back the curtain, my Mom and sister knew too! We got the dress and after we made the purchase, we got to stand together holding the sign, “I had my yes moment!”

This was such a special and unique moment. I am grateful for it and will always remember dress shopping. It was so special that I couldn’t help but think of how this relates to faith. In our faith lives, don’t we have a “yes moment”? In fact, maybe lots of them? And if we do, what if we celebrated the way we do when we pick out the most special dress ever?

Now, before your Lutheran cringe fills your heart, hold on. We believe that faith comes by the grace of God. Luther would say we can’t say yes to any part of this process, and even if we could, that is not where the power lies. It is pure gift and grace from God who did all the work for us. We are reminded of this in Ephesians 2:8-9: ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are saved by grace through faith.

That is most certainly true. However, we do have a beautiful moment at confirmation where we have a “yes moment” to affirm that, yes, we believe in the awesome and Triune God who saves, loves, and sanctifies us. It is the affirmation of our baptism, it is our yes following up from a time when someone needed to speak for us. When we say yes for ourselves, it is a big moment.

And I believe there are yes moments that we celebrate along our faith journey. It may be a celebration of saying yes to listening to the call of the Holy Spirit, to volunteering for a new opportunity when asked, to spending more time in Scripture. There are so many opportunities when we can say “yes” in our walk of faith. With joy, we can celebrate those moments when we say, “Yes, Lord, here I am. Send me.”

And those are special moments. Ones to celebrate.