PROCESSION : 

Cannon in D
(bride escorted to altar first by mother then by father)

INVOCATION

We are Children of the Light. May the Light of God shine through us each and every day.


MARRIAGE INTRODUCTION

Love is the motivating force that brings us together today.  You are not just spectators.  You are here today because of JANE and BILL’s love for you and they all want you to participate in the blessing of their togetherness.

We are gathered together here, in the sight of God,  and in front of these witnesses, to join JANE and BILL in Holy Matrimony which is an honourable estate  instituted of God in the time of innocense.  This holy estate which Christ adorned and beautified with his presence,  and the first miracle he wrought in Cana of Galilee and is commended in Holy Scripture to be honourable among all persons and therefore is not by any to be entered into lightly, unadvisedly, or wantonly; but reverently, discreetly, soberly, and in the eyes of God duly considering the cause for which matrimony was ordained.

Matrimony was ordained for the hallowing of the union between man and woman; and for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, in both prosperity and adversity.  Into this Holy Estate JANE and BILL come now to be joined.

READING/LESSON  - Corinthians: chapter 13 - verse 1 -13 -

If I speak in tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith,  so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love,  I gain nothing.  Love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,  endures all things.

Love never ends, as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when perfect comes,  the imperfect will pass away.

When I was a child,  I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;  When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly,  but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.  So faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.



ADDRESS

Love is the life of the soul. It is the harmony of the   universe.

Today we celebrate the beginning of a journey for JANE and BILL. This journey is filled with joy because it is approached through love. JANE and BILL have chosen this path because they love each other. They have come to a point where two paths become one path - where two souls join to share in life's joys and challenges.  For what greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow, and to share with each other all gladness.
 
Love is a quality of Spirit. A journey through love is therefore a Spiritual journey and is sanctified by the presence of God.   This simple ceremony, this celebration, is the outward token of a sacred and inward union of hearts, a union created by loving purpose and kept by abiding will.


PROMISES

JANE and BILL no other human ties are more tender and sacred that those you now assume.

BILL will you have JANE to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold,  to live together in holy estate of matrimony?  Will you lover her, cherish her,  honour, and keep her, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, and, forsaking all others, keep you only unto her?

BILL - I will

JANE will you have BILL to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony?  Will you love him, cherish him, honour him, and keep him, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, and forsaking all others, keep you only unto him?

JANE - I will

Who presents JANE to be married to BILL?

Escorts - WE DO

Marriage is more than a man and a woman and making them husband and wife. For they who give a son and they who give a daughter become one family and so the miracle of love spreads its ties throughout the earth.

SONG

READING - The Key to Love -

RING CEREMONY

( Best Man hands wedding rings to the minister)
 
The wedding ring is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond, which unites two souls in endless love. The perfect circle of a ring symbolizes eternity, while gold is a symbol of all that is pure and holy. As you give these rings to each other, our prayer is that your love will be the same; pure and eternal.

BLESSING OF THE RING
Sanctify O Lord these rings,  that they may be to these Thy children, a token of their solemn vows and pledge of pure and endless love. Amen.

RING EXCHANGE
GROOM (placing the ring on Bride’s finger, repeats after the Minister)

I, BILL, give this ring as a token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love with all that I am and all that I will become.

BRIDE (placing the ring on the Groom’s finger, repeats after Minister)

I, JANE, give this ring as a token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love with all that I am and all that I will become.

Forasmuch as JANE and BILL have consented together in Holy Wedlock and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth to each other, and have declared the same by the presenting and receiving of rings and by joining hands.

I hereby pronounce you to be husband and wife…..you may kiss the bride.


SONG


BENEDICTION:

The Lord Bless and keep you, The Lord make His light shine upon you.  The Lord lift up His countenance to you and give you peace.  Amen.

Let us offer a prayer of thanksgiving that JANE and BILL have found such joy and happiness.

PRAYER FOR THE NEWLYWEDS

Lord God, great is the love that has been given to us.  Great are the responsibilities on each of us as we become aware that we are instruments of God’s love in all of life.  Bless by the Holy Breath of Spirit, the commitment of love that JANE and BILL have made to each other.  Grant that their love and our love may grow to the fullness of eternal love.  Amen.

SIGNING OF THE REGISTER


MARRIAGE BLESSING

PRONOUNCEMENT:

Ladies and Gentleman: May I present to you for the first time BILL and JANE as husband  and wife.


RECESSIONAL