MARGIE AND BOB’S WEDDING

October 26, 2002  Sarasota, Fl

 

WEDDING MARCH – Jeff Lance

Margie and Bob have invited you, their family and special friends to witness and to celebrate this marriage ceremony with them. Gathered with you in the presence of God, they have come to make public their love and commitment to live and grow together.  It is their wish that by being here today, we will all come to feel a real and intimate part of their declaration, and thus make it even more significant and powerful.

The ability and desire for one human being to love another is perhaps the most precious and fulfilling gift that has been entrusted to us. It is an all-consuming task, a lifelong endeavor.

Loving someone is a reason to stretch beyond our limits, to become more for the sake of the other. It is to look into the soul of your beloved and accept what you see. Loving is the ultimate commitment which challenges humans to become all that we are meant to be. As they join in marriage today, Margie and Bob are announcing to the world that they are welcoming that challenge.

Let us join now in prayer to show our support of the commitment they are making today.

INVOCATION –:

We acknowledge the Presence of Love and in that presence, we recognize the love that Margie and Bob share. In this moment, each of us here joyfully celebrate and add our support as these two separate lives with their individual memories, desires, and hopes merge into one. We know and accept for them happiness and contentment as they join their lives and explore the depths of their love for one another. We call upon a blessing for their families and friends and the relationships which have supported, strengthened and sustained them throughout their lives.

Today and always, we acknowledge God, the Good, and know that the love that brought them here today will sustain them for the rest of their days.  AMEN          

READING

Marriage is the joining of two lives. It is the merging of two distinct personalities and two life stories. Two individuals, each of whom has a unique and life shaping past, willingly choose to set aside the solitary exploration of themselves to discover who they are in the presence of one another.

 

Margie and Bob, I have confidence in your love for and friendship with one another and I know that it will enable you to continue to grow individually and together. I support you – as I know we all do with our own deep and basic confidence.

You have chosen each other as partners in life’s journey.  Are you ready to be married?  If so, please say,  “We are”

 

The Consent

Bob, do you come here today, in the presence of these witnesses, with love in your heart and with the conscious desire to be united in marriage with Margie? Do you promise to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together and to give to Margie all the loving support she needs to become the person she is destined to be?

BOB:”I do”

 

Margie, do you come here today, in the presence of these witnesses, with love in your heart and with the conscious desire to be united in marriage with Bob? Do you promise to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together and to give to Bob all the loving support he needs to become the person he is destined to be?

Margie: “I do”

 

I invite you then to offer each other your VOWS.

Bob first, then Margie

 

VOWS

 

 

To the congregation:

Will all of you, family and special friends, do everything you can to honor, uphold and care for Bob and Margie as they walk the sacred path of marriage?

 

RESPONSE:  We will.

This commitment is truly a Sacred union – it brings with it opportunities for growth, for full self-expression, for lifting your lives to their highest potential, for healing any small idea you ever had about yourself and ultimately for true communion with God.

 

RINGS

What symbols do you bring as a reminder of the promised given and received today.

(Bob gives the rings to Toni)

 

A circle is a symbol of the Sun, and the Earth, and the universe.  It is a symbol of holiness, and of perfection and peace.  It is also the symbol of the eternality of spiritual truth, love and life…that which has no beginning and no end.  And in this moment, Bob and Margie choose for it to also be a symbol of unity, of joining, and of encirclement. These rings represent an inward belief and trust in togetherness. They express an outward sign of spirit and commitment, signifying to all who see them, the bonds of marriage the two of you share. 

Now, Bob and Margie, take these rings you wish to give one to the other.

 

Bob & Margie together– please repeat after me.

Bob/ Margie, //I offer you this ring// as a symbol of our marriage vows.// As you wear it,// know that I will love and cherish you always.

 

 

CLOSING PRAYER

At this moment as you begin your life together as husband and wife, I know each one of us gathered here gives thanks for the opportunity to bless you Margie and Bob. 

 

We know our faith-filled prayers carry great power.  So, in our mind’s eye we now see you, Margie and Bob,  as God knows you to be, — happy, peaceful, whole, free, fulfilled, prosperous and ever radiating the Love you both are.

 

This prayer is our gift to you, not just now, but as we think of you in the days, months and years to come, we will thank God in our hearts that a greater Love is assured in this world because of the commitment you have made here today. 

We are grateful in seeing this vision for you, for in seeing it, we claim it for ourselves as well.  Truly we celebrate in the Mirror of your Love. And so we say… THANK YOU  Margie and Bob..  Thank you God.   AMEN.

 

 

 

 

 

RECOGNITION of MARRIAGE

And now – I  recognize with full awareness that only a couple can administer the sacrament of marriage to each other, and only a couple can sanctify it. Neither my church, nor any power vested in me by the State, can grant me the authority to declare what only two hearts can declare, and what only two souls can make real.

       And so now, inasmuch as you, Bob, and you, Margie have announced what is already written in your hearts, and have witnessed the same in the presence of these, your family, friends, and the One Living Spirit, –we observe joyfully that you have declared yourselves to be husband and wife.

 

YOU MAY NOW KISS ONE ANOTHER

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you

The Happy Couple –    Margie & Bob