I wrote the following sermon for my friends’ wedding that I officiated on September 13, 2024.

As I mentioned earlier, my name is Nichole, and I’m a good friend of Riley and Brooklyn’s. Riley and I met back in 2015 while working in a very small town in Louisiana; he was working for AmeriCorps, and I was teaching religion at a Catholic high school. My background is in creation spirituality, and at the time, I was also discerning religious life as a nun. Thank goodness all of that didn’t scare Riley away. If anything, my friendship with him and now Brooklyn and their families, makes me feel all the more affirmed in my Christian faith because of the people they are.

I wrote my thesis on love and the cosmos. I believe that love is the most powerful force in the universe, woven into the very fabric of creation. Love’s ultimate aim is union – the desire that connects everything. This desire has existed since the beginning of time when everything was held tightly together within a single point smaller than a grain of rice before the Big Bang. That same wisdom is still alive in us and in all creation.

It can be easy to see love’s great work of union in the bond between two people who are in love. We also see it between parents and their children, between friends, and even between an owner and their pet. Love’s unifying power dwells in all of us, and it shows up in a variety of ways. 

As a queer woman from San Francisco, I was having a pretty challenging year in Louisiana, and I was longing for more community. I found a weekly queer meetup being held nearby which is where I first saw Riley. At the end of the meeting we went out for coffee and I was so grateful that someone had noticed me. We became fast friends, and even after our chapters in Louisiana came to a close, we kept in touch through many of life’s ups and downs. Although our friendship has always been easy to maintain, I wouldn’t be up here today if he hadn’t introduced himself in the first place.

When Riley met Brooklyn, my heart fluttered to hear him say so frequently, “I’ve never met anyone who treats me so well.” I finally met Brooklyn almost two years ago while they were visiting the Bay Area. Riley and Brooklyn stayed in an Airbnb with me and several of my friends who didn’t really know each other. I wasn’t sure how the weekend would go, especially since I was going to ask them all to help me plan a flashmob. To my surprise, it was Brooklyn who rallied my friends together, led the choreography and we had the best time. She was the star that weekend.

Beyond the ways they’ve shown up for me, it’s been a profound honor to witness Riley’s journey of coming home to himself. He inspires me to also know myself better, to ask questions and explore in order to live authentically. I believe the better we know ourselves, the more fully we can then show up for others. This deep self-understanding shines through the ways Riley uplifts the transgender community and in the beautiful love that he and Brooklyn share. I’m continually touched by the stories of their dedication and care for their students, reflecting their commitment to nurturing others. And who could forget their adventurous road trip through the Pacific Northwest in a campervan? Riley would light up talking about how seamlessly they worked together and Brooklyn’s endless patience along the way. If that doesn’t define a true power couple, I don’t know what does. It helps that they come from two remarkable families that support, stretch for, and celebrate their children. I’ve been lucky to witness their hospitality when I spent two Christmases with Riley’s family and one with Brooklyn’s. It was their first time meeting me but it feels like I’ve known them for much longer.

To love another is to truly see and accept someone for who they are, without the intention to disregard, fix, or rescue. For that reason, love isn’t always a simple task. It stretches us outside of our comfort zone to meet another person where they are, and that is a beautiful thing. I experienced it in Riley when he approached me the day we met. We all felt it in Brooklyn when she brought together a house of strangers and we danced our hearts out. I see it in the way they build bridges and support their students and each other. But it dwells in each of us when we witness a need in our world and rather than criticize or ignore it, we ask ourselves “what can I do to be a part of the solution?” Love’s unifying force is the compelling desire within us to reach out when we don’t have to, but we listen to it anyway.

Riley and Brooklyn live out the love deeply embedded in who we are – the love that reaches beyond the individual and strengthens the bonds of community, knowing that each of us is an integral part of the web of life and we need each other. I really believe that when we listen to this call, we create the world we all long for and we are happier for it.

Today, as we celebrate Riley and Brooklyn, we are reminded that love is not just a feeling but an action – an action that unites, that heals, that overcomes, and that brings us closer to the divine work of union that is at the heart of the cosmos.