Wedding at Chapel of the Pines, in New Hampshire.  Contains "This Is Friendship"

Wedding of Bride and Groom

September 1, 1990

Prelude      

Processional

Invocation          (Ad Lib)

Affirmation

We acknowledge that God is present everywhere at all times in each and every one of us.  The Divine Spirit is with us right now uniting us in love, faith, joy, and wholeness.  We give thanks for Bride and Groom being brought together and for this ceremony which begins their marriage.  We give thanks for everyone here and for those loved ones who are not here in body but are here in our hearts.  We rejoice in being fully present in this moment and we continue, knowing we are blessed by God's love.

Inspirational Readings   

Betrothal

There is no human institution more sacred than that of the home you are about to form.  True marriage is the holiest of all earthly relationships.  It should be entered into reverently, thoughtfully, and with full understanding of its sacred nature.  Marriage to be complete must first be spiritual.  From this inner state of conscious unity in faith, love, thought, purpose, plan, and action, there comes the outer state corresponding to it, making the outer, like the inner, peaceful and harmonious.  The state of matrimony is true marriage only when based upon this deep, invisible union of two souls who seek to find completion in one another.  Do you understand this?

Groom and Bride:  "I DO"

Today your separate lives with their individual memories, desires, and hopes merge into one.  Will you bring to this new life, each for the sake of the other, the best that you have in you, seeing to express your life together each at the highest level of your own understanding.

Groom and Bride:  "We Will"

Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?

People:  We will.

Minister:  Who presents this woman to be married to this man?

Father:  Her mother and I do.

------------------------------

Homily

Dear friends of us all:  You are entering into that Holy estate which is the deepest mystery of experience and the very sacrament of Divine Love.

It is a chief moment in life when two people, who were strangers to each other, are drawn together by an irresistible attraction, so that their souls cannot be henceforth divided by time or space; when a man sees in a single woman that dream of purity and sweetness which has ever haunted his soul; when in a single man the woman finds the rest and satisfaction her heart has been unconsciously seeking.  It is a revelation from above and makes all things new; it is the hand of Providence and annuls every argument of worldly providence.  You are performing an act of utter faith, believing in each other to the utmost.

As the bride gives herself to the bridegroom, let him be to her now father and mother, sister and brother, and - most sacred - husband.  As he gives himself to her, let the bride sustain and inspire his heart in the great affairs of life and in his chosen calling.  If you wish your new estate to be touched with perennial beauty, cherish those gracious visions which have made spring within your heart during the days of your betrothal.  You must never forget or deny the vision you once saw.  You must resolve that it be not blotted out or blurred by the commonplace experiences of life.  Faults may appear that were once hidden in a golden mist; excellencies may seem to fade in the glare of the noonday sun.  Still be unmoved in your devotion; still remain confident and hopeful.  Amid the seeming reality of present imperfection believe in the ideal.  You saw it once.  It still exists.  It is the final Truth.

I would like to share with you this reading by Mary Carolyn Davies:  This is Friendship.

"I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.  I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.  I love you for the part of me that you bring out.  I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart and passing over all the frivolous and weak things that you cannot help seeing there, and drawing out into the light all the beautiful, radiant things that no one else has looked quite far enough to find.  I love you for ignoring the possibilities of the fool in me and for laying firm hold of the possibilities of good in me.  I love you for closing your eyes to the discords in me, and adding to the music in me by worshipful listening ...."

This is the man, this is the woman, you love.  This is the shape of spiritual beauty that God sees and that for an hour God showed to you.  This is the soul that is to be when victory over temptations, hindrances, and failure is accomplished.  Hide this image in your inmost heart.  Make real this ideal in your united lives, and you home will be a sanctuary of repair and safe harbor, a dwelling place of contentment and abiding joy, a foretaste of that heavenly habitation where goodness reigns and love is the very air, the kingdom of God.

Exchange of Vows

Minister:  Please face each other and hold right hands.

            Groom, please repeat after me:

            I, Groom, take you Bride,

            to be my wedded wife,

            to have and to hold,

            from this day forth,

            through all of life's experiences.

            I join with you to create a family. 

            I promise to love you,

            care for you and honor you

            so long as live shall last. 

            I know that we are protected,

            guided, nourished, sustained

            and fulfilled now and forever

            by a loving God

            who knows only good.

Bride, please repeat after me:

            I, Bride, take you, Groom

            to be my wedded husband,

            to have and to hold,

            from this day forth,

            through all of life's experiences.

            I join with you to create a family. 

            I promise to love you,

            care for you and honor you

            so long as live shall last. 

            I know that we are protected,

            guided, nourished, sustained

            and fulfilled now and forever

            by a loving God

            who knows only good.

Exchange of Rings

What symbol do you give of your pledge?

These rings are symbols of the endless circle of spiritual love that links you, spirit to spirit and soul to soul, in eternal love. 

Bless, O Lord this ring that he who gives it and she who wears it may ever abide in Your peace, living together in unity, in love and in happiness, and with good purpose to do Your will. Amen

            Groom:  I give you this ring
            as a symbol of my vow,
            and with all that I am,
            and all that I have,
            I honor you,

Bless, O Lord this ring that she who gives it and he who wears it may ever abide in Your peace, living together in unity, in love and in happiness, and with good purpose to do Your will. Amen

            Bride:  I give you this ring
            as a symbol of my vow,
            and with all that I am,
            and all that I have,
            I honor you,

Pronouncement

Please join right hands.  Groom and Bride, under the authority of my church, the authority vested in me by this State, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who performs every true marriage, I pronounce you husband and wife.

Blessing

Almighty God, witness of every true marriage, and sealer of every spiritual union, we invoke Your blessings upon these Your children.  Be consciously with them in all their ways.  Bless them with goodness and truth, purity and wisdom, fidelity and forbearance, prosperity and contentment.  Let their minds be illuminated with wisdom, their souls vivified with life and their bodies purified with Your substance.  Amen.

You may kiss each other.

Giving of Roses

(Get the roses from the Maid of Honor)

Minister:  As a representative of the church and these friends and family present, I present you with your first gifts as a married couple.

            Roses are the classic symbol of love.  In the language of romance it is the rose that most represents the love between a man and a woman.  The color pink is the perfect interpenetration of the red of human passion and the pure white of spirit.

            It is realistic to acknowledge that there will be times in the ebb and flow of life when there will be misunderstandings and the emotion of anger will arise.  There will be times of great disturbance or distance between you.  To acknowledge, and to prepare for, these times is to take away their power.  Take these roses into your new home and create a place for them there.  Let that place be forever acknowledged as the symbol of the true power of your marriage, the power of love -- Love to overcome all differences, Love which conquers the greatest anger, Love which spans all distances.

            Whenever it needs to be said, and the words just won't come, either of you may place a pink rose in the place you create today to say, simply, "I love you".  Not necessarily, "I am wrong", just, "I love you."

Friends, relatives, members of the immediate family, may I present to you the new Mr. and Mrs. Last Name.

Recessional