We gather here today to celebrate your marriage of _____ years. We rejoice in your continuing love for each other as you renew your vows
We thank God for the passion and joy which you have known and the strength with which you have been blessed. Today you declare publicly before God, family and friends your special love and reaffirm your lasting commitment as partners in love and life.
You will declare that in spite of the difficulties and hardships of life, that with God’s help you will continue to love and be faithful to one another. You again commit yourselves to a love for one another that involves the total giving of yourselves. You covenant to accept each other totally, creating a safe and loving space for each other to grow as individuals and partners and to mature in faith.
You make this covenant today before God, the creator of the life that you share, and the giver of that special love that you have for each other.
May that special love you now share continue to grow and blossom in years to come and be sustained by God, family and friends and the commitment you make again this day.
The Vows
(Name) and (Name), you are about to make promises of love to one another. These promises declare your continuing love to be a special commitment which will strengthen your lives for whatever situation you may face with the strength and courage of two.
I, N , take you, N , my wife,
to have and to hold
from this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part;
according to God’s holy law.
and this is my solemn vow.
The Giving of Rings
A circle is an ancient symbol of wholeness and peace. It represents the boundaries beyond which the special nature of a particular relationship does not extend. The ring is the accepted token of a marriage covenant. As these rings are fashioned from one of the earth’s most precious material, so may your love, nourished and sustained by the love of God, be the most precious and durable of the values you share. In giving and receiving these rings, you again acknowledge that your lives remain joined in one unbroken circle, wherever you go, you will always return to your shared life together.
The Blessing of the Rings
Heavenly Father, by your blessing
let these rings be to N and N
a symbol of unending love and faithfulness,
to remind them of the vow and covenant
which they have made this day
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The man places the ring on the hand of his wife and holding it there says
N, I give you this ring
as a sign of our marriage.
With my body I honour you,
all that I am I give to you,
and all that I have I share with you,
within the love of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If rings are to be exchanged the woman places a ring on the hand of her husband and, holding it there, says
N, I give you this ring
as a sign of our marriage.
With my body I honour you,
all that I am I give to you,
and all that I have I share with you,
within the love of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessing upon the Marriage
Before God and this congregation (Name) and (Name) have renewed their marriage vows to each other. They have re-confirmed their covenant of marriage by the joining of hands and the exchange of rings. May there be truth and understanding between you as you are a joy and a blessing to each other. May you enjoy length of days, fulfillment of hopes, and peace and contentment of mind.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
bless, preserve and keep you;
the Lord mercifully grant you the riches of his grace,
that you may please him both in body and soul,
and, living together in faith and love,
may receive the blessings of eternal life.
May God bless and keep you always. Amen
Additional Material for the Service
Prayer
Spirit of God, in whom we live and move and have our being, you have given us the life and grace of human love that draws us to each other. Today we pray for (Name) and (Name) in their continued life together. We are thankful for the joy they find in each other and the hope they declare in this act of re-marriage. May they always be strengthened to keep the vows they have made and cherish the life they share, and to honour each other in love. Amen.
Bible readings suitable for the service
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat over other men’s sins, but delights in the truth. There is nothing love can not face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance.
Genesis 2:18-24
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
John 15:9-12
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love. If you keep my commandments, and abide in his love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment: That you love one another as I have loved you.
Psalm 128:1-4
Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, and may you live to see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.
Mark 10:6-9
From the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Ephesians
Submit yourselves one to another as the fear of God. Wives, show reverence for your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and He is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own
Husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wife, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word; that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkles or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own body; He that loves his wife loves himself.
For no man ever yet hateth his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is a profound one and I am saying this as it refers to Christ and the Church; however, let husband love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respect her husband.”
Additional Readings
When you fall in love it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then it subsides and when it subsides you have to make a decision, you have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part, because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining he is kissing every part of your body. No, don’t blush, I am telling you some truths. This is just ‘being in love,’ which any of us can convince ourselves we are in. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away. It doesn’t sound very exciting does it? But it is. Dr. Lannis, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
“The world, for me, and all the world can hold
Is circled by your arms: for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
The only beauty that is never old.”
James Weldon Johnson
When the one man loves the one woman and the one woman loves the one man, the very angels desert heaven and sit in that hour and sing for joy. Braham-Sutra
Blessed art though, O Lord, who makes
the bridegroom rejoice with the bride.
Talmud (Ketubot 8)
What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life, to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on each other in sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting? George Eliot