A Timeless Wedding...Continued from page 2

Tom Kaplan

The Brides maids, Maid of Honor, Ring Bearer, and then the Flower Girl enter and take positions at the base of the steps ? left side. MOH and/or brides maid may stand ready to help with Bride’s train if necessary.

The musician begins the “Bridal Chorus”. Bride and escort enter as Minister motions for everyone to stand. Bride and escort move to base of steps. Groom steps beside the escort.

CEREMONY

WELCOME/PRAYER (Minister): "Please be seated."

OPENING WORDS (Minister)

We are gathered here today in the presence of God and these witnesses as (G) “Full Name” and (B) “Full Name” unite in Holy Matrimony.

Jesus honored marriage by His presence at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. It signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and His Church. And the Holy Spirit commends it to be honored among all people. Jesus also used the figure of marriage to symbolize the great day when He, the Bridegroom, adorned in all His glory, will come for His Bride the Church, which He has purchased with His own blood.

BRIDE IS GIVEN AWAY

(Minister) Who gives (B) “First name” in marriage to (G) “First name”? (Her escort responds, e.g., "Her mother and I", joins their hands, then is seated.)

STATEMENTS/SCRIPTURE (Minister)

God has established marriage to be a permanent relationship of one man and one woman freely and totally committed to each other as companions for life. We find in Genesis 2, God ordaining the institution of marriage.

“. . . And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden. And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make for him a help mate' . . . And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made He woman, and brought her unto the man."

"And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because 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. (Woman was taken from man's rib, which is from his side, not his head nor his foot, so she

belongs along side of man.)

(Move up steps.)

(G) “First name” and (B) “First name”, the Scripture in Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3 instructs you in your obligations as husband and wife: "Wives, submit to your husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. . ." "You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. . .love your wives, just as Christ loved the church, and sacrificed Himself for her."

A marriage is year upon year of unconditional love and commitment. 1 Corinthians 13 says, "Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast; it is not proud. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."