An Example of our Service
A Service of Love - for those who wish for a non religious ceremony

Friends, __________ and __________ have invited us here today to share in the celebration of their union.

We come together not to mark the start of a relationship, but to recognize a bond that already exists. This union is one expression of the many varieties of love. Love is one, though its expressions are infinite.

It is fitting to speak briefly about love. We live in a world of joy and fear and search for meaning and strength in the seeming disorder. We discover the truest guideline to our quest when we realize love in all its magnitudes. Love is the eternal force of life. Love is the force that allows us to face fear and uncertainty with courage.

But, you must "be of love a little more careful than of anything."
For the giving of yourself in love is difficult, for you must learn to give of your love without total submission of yourself. Therefore, in your giving, give your joy, your sadness, your interest, your understanding, your knowledge -- all expressions that make up life. But in this giving, remember to preserve yourself -- your integrity, your individuality. This is the challenge of love within a relationship.

__________ and __________, you are here today because you enjoy each other's company and because you want to be together. You are together because each of you can grow in humanity and in love more fully while touching the other. You are here because you can be more trusting of life as life mates. Keep this understanding of your union fresh and alive in the days ahead.

A reading

This is a good estate. Bring to it joy.
Bring to it the joy of this hour.
Bring to it the enjoyment of each other.
Love is the simplest of all earthly things.
It needs no grandeur of celestial trust
In more than what it is, no holy wings:
It stands with honest feet in honest dust.
And is the body's blossoming in clear air
Of trustfulness and joyance when alone
Two mortals pass beyond the hour's despair
And claim that Paradise which is their own.
Amid a universe of sweat and blood,
Beyond the glooms of all the nations' hate,
Lovers, forgetful of the poisoned mood
Of the loud world, in secret ere too late
A gentle sacrament may celebrate
Before their private altar of the good.

By Arthur Davison Ficke

The promise

The officiant asks

__________, Do you come before this gathering of friends and family to proclaim your love and devotion for __________? Do you promise to affirm her/him, respect her/him, and care for her/him during times of joy and hardship? Do you commit yourself to share your feelings of happiness and sadness? Do you pledge to remain faithful to her/him?

The answer
I do.

The officiant asks
__________, Do you come before this gathering of friends and family to proclaim your love devotion for __________? Do you promise to affirm him/her, respect him/her, and care for him/her during times of joy and hardship? Do you commit yourself to share your feelings of happiness and sadness? Do you pledge to remain faithful to him/her?

The answer
I do.

I promise you __________, that I will be your loving and loyal companion from now on and I will share with you all of life's joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, until death parts us.

I promise you __________, that I will be your loving and loyal companion from now on and I will share with you all of life's joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, until death parts us.

The Rings

Officiant: The rings you give and receive this day are the symbols of the endless love into which you enter. Such a love has no beginning and no ending, no giver and no receiver. You are each the beginning and the ending, each the giver and the receiver.

I give this ring in remembrance of this hour, a symbol of love that is complete, beautiful, and endless.

I give this ring in remembrance of this hour, a symbol of love that is complete, beautiful and endless.

The announcement

Before this gathering __________ and __________ have promised each other their love and have given each other rings to wear as a sign of their deep commitment. Therefore I declare that they are joined as one.

The Conclusion

May this moment gleam eternally in your lives. May it add glory to every achievement and cast a blessed light over any ill fortune that may appear. May you give vitality to each other in all undertakings. May you care for each other in all sadness. May you give cheer to each other as you each care for the sacred passion of love. May all that is virtuous, beautiful and trustworthy, remain with you always.

Or a Religious Service
Entrance Music: Organ Sonata No 2 By Mendlesohnn

God is love, and those who live in love live in God: and God lives with them.

In the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen

Dear Friends we gather together in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together these two people. Relationships are honorable and were instituted by God in the time of humanity's innocence. They signify to us the union between Christ and the Church and we are reminded that Jesus himself blessed the wedding of his friends when he saved the day at a wedding by turning six stone jars of water into wine. Relationships are not to be enterprised nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy carnal lusts and appetites like animals that have no understanding, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God. Relationships are for the mutual society, help, and comfort that one ought to have for the other, both in prosperity and adversity. It is such a relationship we celebrate today.

Music:

During the Music Neil and Michael will each light a candle of their own to show at this point of the Service that they are two individual people.

Priest: Will you Neil Antony, take Michael William, to be your life-long companion, lover and friend? Will you spend your lives together, seeking to fulfil each other's needs, growing together that you may share your strengths and bear each other's weaknesses? Do you promise to love, honor, and cherish him, to dwell together in harmony and love as long as you both shall live?

Neil: I will

Priest: Will you Michael William, take Neil Antony, to be your life-long companion, lover and friend? Will you spend your lives together, seeking to fulfil each other's needs, growing together that you may share your strengths and bear each other's weaknesses? Do you promise to love, honor, and cherish him, to dwell together in harmony and love as long as you both shall live?

Michael: I will

Please sit for the Reading: (Father Richard Sanders)

From a Native American Source

Now you will feel no rain, for each of your will be shelter for the other now you will reel no cold for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no more loneliness. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling to enter into the days of your life together. And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

Priest: Neil and Michael you are about to make a solemn promise. Do you believe that God has called you to live together in love?

Neil and Michael: We do

Priest: Do you promise to be loyal to each other, never allowing any other relationship to come before the one you now affirm?

Neil and Michael: I do

Priest: Do you, under God, recognize each other's freedom to grow as individuals and allow each other time and space to do so?

Neil and Michael: I do

Priest: Neil, do you give yourself wholly to Michael, sharing your love and your life, your wholeness and your brokenness, your joys and sorrows, your health and sickness, your riches and poverty, your success and failure?

Neil: I do

Priest: Michael do you give yourself wholly to Neil, sharing your love and your life, your wholeness and your brokenness, your joys and sorrows, your health and sickness, your riches and poverty, your success and failure?

Michael: I do

Priest: Will you, the chosen witnesses of Neil and Michael do all in your power to support and strengthen them in the days ahead.

Witnesses: We will.

Priest: Heavenly father, by your blessing, let these rings be to Neil and Michael, a symbol of unending love and of faithfulness, may they remind them of the vows which they have made this day. Through them may they also find hope and strength in the life that they share together through Christ the Lord. Amen

Priest: The circle is a symbol of the sun and of the earth and the universe. It is a symbol of wholeness and of perfection and of peace. The ring is a symbol of unity into which your two loves are now joined in an unbroken circle, in which, wherever you go, you will return to one another.

Michael repeats after the Priest: Neil, I give you this ring as a symbol of our union and love. In the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen

Neil repeats after the Priest: Michael, I give you this ring as a symbol of our union and love. In the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen

In the presence of God and before the witness here present Neil and Michael have given their consent and vows to each other. They have declared their union by the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings. I therefore proclaim that your union has been sealed by the Holy Spirit, within the Love of God and the by the Grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The couple light the one candle from their own candles to show that they are joined as one.

That, which God has joined together, be not divided

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 blessing of eternal life. Amen

You may now kiss your partner.

Reading: Father Richard Sanders

Taken from Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A three-fold cord is not quickly broken.

Homily: Father Peter White

Music for the signing of the Certificates.

The Blessing:

Above you the stars,
Below you the stones.
As time passes remember
Like a star your love should be constant,
Like a stone your love should be firm
Be close, yet not to close,
Posses one another, yet be understanding.
Have patience each with the other,
For storms will come, but they will go quickly.
Be free in giving of affection and warmth.
Make love often, and be sensuous to one another.
Have no fear, and let not the ways or the words
Of the unenlightened give you unease.
For God's Spirit is with you.
Now and always.
And Almighty God bless you. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen

Music: Chorale Improvisation on "Nun Danket Alle Gott" By Karl Elert.

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