Congratulations to Chika and Charles!

Holy Trinity Church Centre was, last night, the venue for an evening of ceremony and celebration as Chika Okeke and Charles Adijahun were married in a Nigerian ceremony that will shortly be followed by a church ceremony. 

It was a uniting of two families, one from east Nigeria and the other from the west, and was conducted in two languages - some of the ceremony had to be spoken in the Igbo language, and the remainder (inc my prayers...) in English. 

Music, dancing, several changes of clothes for the bride and groom, a magnificent 'set' that transformed the church centre, food and much laughter made it a spectacular and memorable event. At the heart of it was praise and thanksgiving to God for his goodness to the families: 'God is good, all the time - all the time, God is good' was a regular, spontaneous response led by the MC (yes, there were 2 MCs, one from each family), and the 'most important gift' (among many!) that the groom's family brought was a bible.

There was an extended period of waiting as senior members of both families went out to a separate room to negotiate the 'Bride Price' - but it seemed to go well and they all returned smiling.

It was delight to see the Okeke family celebrating in this way, and a personal privilege to be invited to be part of it. May God continue to bless these 2 families with his goodness, and may Chika and Charles' marriage bring many more occasions for celebration.