(As applicable:) Minister posts front and center. Parties enter and take their places, groom last. When last solo is finished, signal all to stand and turn to face the entrance. Bride enters to appropriate music.
We are born into this fallen world with an instinctive awareness we are alone. We hunger for our Creator, but we cannot touch Him with our hands. In this life, He has granted the Marriage Covenant to all humanity as a means to help fill that void in our existence until the day He returns. In matrimony is our one best chance to open ourselves fully and exclusively to another person. These two (indicate the bride and groom) come now to join in such a covenant in the Presence of God Almighty, and you, His People, as witnesses.
[Groom] and [Bride], we have taken the Lord's counsel together. There is now no cause preventing this union. Join your right hands.
[Groom], Our Lord requires you to commit yourself to love and cherish this woman, to lift her up and sustain her in all the circumstances He brings into your life. You shall do this much as Christ gave Himself to and for His Bride, The Church. You shall keep this commitment for as long as you both remain this side of Eternity. Do you promise to do so?
Groom answers: I do.
[Bride], God requires that you commit yourself to love and cherish this man, to lift him up and sustain him in all the circumstances He may bring into your life, much as the Church devotes herself to her Lord, Jesus Christ. You shall keep this commitment for as long as you both remain this side of Eternity.
Do you promise to do this?
Bride answers: I do.
Throughout human history, rings have held a special significance. Only in recent times have they been regarded as jewelry, a mere decoration. In ancient times, a man received a ring to mark him as someone's champion defender. For a women, it signified she was the most precious treasure in the household. They are worn on the left hand closest to the heart. Again, only in recent history have we seen the giving of one's heart as merely a warm fuzzy emotion, or a passionate obsession. For most of human history, the heart was the seat of human will. To give one's heart was a firm decision to seek the well-being of another.
The ring for the Bride, please. Hand it to the groom, who places it on the bride's finger and holds it there.
[Groom], do you give this ring to [Bride] as a symbol of your love for her?
Groom responds: I do.
[Bride], will you wear this ring proudly as a sign of your acceptance of [Groom]'s heart?
Bride responds: I will.
Ring for the Groom, please. Hand ring to bride, who places it on groom's finger and holds it there.
And [Bride], do you give this ring to [Groom] as a symbol of your love for him?
Bride responds: I do.
[Groom], will you wear this ring proudly as sign of your acceptance of [Bride]'s heart?
Groom responds: I will.
Rejoin the couple's right hands and hold them together on top.
Having done all this in the presence of Almighty God, and witnessed by His People, we all together declare this covenant of husband and wife is fully established by the Lord's power. Let no other authority in Heaven or on earth dare to question His doings.
Minister prays benediction as led of the Spirit.
By Ed Hurst
30 July 2005
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