General Wedding

Wedding of

June 3, 2002

Opening Words;

We are gathered here today in the sight of God and in the presence of this company to witness the union of ____________ and ____________ in Christian marriage. May our Heavenly Father look down upon this event with his smile of approval. May the Lord Jesus Christ be present and add his blessing. May the Holy Spirit attend and seal these vows in love. For marriage is a gift given by God to promote social order and to increase human happiness.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and everything on the earth and above and below the earth. He said it was good. Then God created Man in His own image. God took special time and care in crating man for man would be his crown jewel of all creation. But he never said it was good. Instead he said that it was not good for man to be alone.

It wasn’t that Adam didn’t have anything to do he had to figure out names for all the animals of the earth. But God noticed that man did not have any one like him so he put Adam in a deep sleep and removed a rib from his side and created woman to be a helper and a companion for him.

In the act of creation, God didn’t take the woman from mans head, so that she would rule over him, nor did God take a bone from Adams feet so that he would trample upon her. Marriage is a partnership, it will take a lot of give and take on both your parts. The marriages that succeed are the ones that have found middle ground.

God took the bone from the side so that she would be equal with equal with him, and from close to his heart, so that he would love, cherish, and honor her. Then he presented woman to man to serve as his helper and companion. Marriage is God’s gift to deliver us from our isolation and our loneliness.

In Genesis 2:20 – 24 “So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to ever beast of the field. But for Adam there was not fund a helper comparable to him. And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and he brought her to the man.

Listen to what Adam said ______ in verse 23, 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.

There for a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife , and they shall become one flesh.

______________________, Rebecca is not only going to be your wife she is going to be a part of you. She will be your helpmate, She will be your comfort it times of struggle, she is the one that God specifically designed for you. ______________________, ______________________ will be not only your husband but he will be the one you talk to late at night, he will be the one that give you comfort when life throws its rocks at you… God has designed him just for you.

Giving in Marriage

Minister; Who, then, presents ______________________ to be married to ______________________?

Father; I do.

Prayer by Pastor Steve Pace

Further Comments by Steve Pace

______________________ and ______________________, as you prepare to pledge your vows to each other, let me remind you that marriage made in heaven is a union of two lives—two heart that beat as one—so welded together that they walk and work in love. A husband and wife should bear each other’s burdens as well as share each other’s joy. Remember that you will have to cultivate the art of living together--be considerate, loving, helpful and tenderhearted always putting the other ones needs first and holding one another up in love. The vows which your are about to take should be as binding in adversity as they are in prosperity. They should be broken only by death. As I told you when we met everyone that I have married is still married, carry on the tradition so that I can give the same blessing to the next couple. When you say until death do us part-it is a covenant between both of you and God.

Exchange of Vows.

Steve: As a symbol of your union, will you now join hands. ______________________, in taking ______________________ to be your wife, I require you to promise to love and cherish her, to honor and sustain her, in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth, in the bad that may darken your days, in the good that may brighten your ways, and to be true to her until death alone shall part you.