A Ceremony of Blessing for a Marriage

A Ceremony of Blessing for the Marriage of N&N

You will need rings, a loving cup of wine or juice, a first food cake, a candle, and matches to light it with. Please use common sense and ensure everyone's safety when using matches & candles.

Please note that the Rites of Passage liturgies are offered as templates,

and should be adapted as appropriate for your particular gathering.

There may be one leader, or you can take it in turns around the circle of speak the biddings. Everyone is invited to join in saying the words in bold type.

The liturgies, celebrations, ceremonies, prayers, and reflections offered on this blog are the result of my thoughts, reflections, and experiences, woven together using my own words and sometimes adapting the words others have used: I am indebted to their wisdom. Please use these liturgies freely, adapting them as suits your own context. I am always pleased to hear from people who have used them.

Opening words: The Song of Songs 8.6-7

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave; its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.

Song/hymn: (chosen by N&N)

The statement of purpose:

N:

Welcome to you all, and thank you for being with us today to share the joy of  our love and our marriage. In our marriage we are beginning a new dimension of our life together. In plenty or in need, in sorrow or in joy, we will give each other strength, friendship and healing, and, through our love, we will belong to one another in honour and joy.

N:

We are created male and female in the image of God, and marriage is a way of life made holy by God's blessing. Marriage is both joy and demand, grace and work; it is a gift and calling of God and is not to be entered into lightly or thoughtlessly, but reverently and responsibly. This is the way of life that we have chosen, and we have asked you to come together today to rejoice with us, to surround us with your prayers, and to ask for a blessing for our marriage.

Prayer:

All: Eternal God,

      you are with us here today in the fullness of your love.

      In our love for each other we see your will for all creation.

      In the tenderness of love's embrace

      we remember your love made flesh among us.

Women: Your love fills our hearts and draws us to one another.

            Your love in us offers forgiveness,

            and sets us free to be together in peace.

            Your love creates community

            and heals our deepest loneliness.

Men: This love you renew constantly in all your people,

        in every one of us, and in N and N.

        Make them today a sign to us of your love in all creation,

        of your enduring affection and faithfulness,

        and of your joy in all that you have made.

All: May we see this day, before our eyes,

      the joy of love and the hope of faith,

      and may our celebration be touched by your presence. Amen!

Reading/s: (chosen by N&N)

Song/Hymn: (chosen by N&N)

The pledges:

N: I, N, come here of my own free will,

in perfect love and perfect trust,

to affirm my pledge of wedlock to N.

N: I, N, come here of my own free will,

in perfect love and perfect trust,

to affirm my pledge of wedlock to N.

N & N say together:

      We ask that you will bear witness

      to the affirmations that we make this day.

All: We will bear witness to your words and to your love,

      and we will support you as you walk forward in your life together.

      May God bless your bodies and your souls,

      and may the hand of God be upon you,

      to guard you all the days of your life, and keep you in peace.

N & N say together: In Thee, O Lord, do we put our trust.

                              Let us never be confounded.

N & N join their right hands and N says:

I, N, take thee, N, as my wife.

I will love thee even as myself; I will keep faith and loyalty to thee,

and so in thy necessities aid and comfort thee;

which things, and all that man ought to do unto his wife,

I promise to do unto thee, and to keep by the faith that is in me;

and thereto I plight thee my troth.

They release and re-join their hands, as N says:

I, N, take thee, N, as my husband.

I will love thee even as myself; I will keep faith and loyalty to thee,

and so in thy necessities aid and comfort thee;

which things, and all that woman ought to do unto her husband,

I promise to do unto thee, and to keep by the faith that is in me;

and    thereto I plight thee my troth.

They now exchange rings, each saying to the other: 

With this ring I join my life to yours: It is a sign of our marriage,

of all that we have promised and all that we shall share.

Heart to thee, soul to thee, body to thee,

within the love of God, so mote it be.

Prayer, said by everyone together:
         God our Creator, you make us in your image
         and bless us with the gift of love.

In the longing of our bodies, the passion of love’s touch,

and the strong bonds of affection,

your love and blessings are already known.

         We pray for your blessing to be upon N & N, married in your sight.

Lord Jesus, who blessed a wedding by turning water into wine,

we pray that N & N may taste the good wine

of a happy and joyful marriage.

         May they be together always, and may your love,

         bound with theirs, keep them faithful to one another,

         and close to you all the days of their life. Amen!

The Sharing of the Loving Cup:

N is given the Loving Cup by one of the friends with these words:

          Receive the Loving Cup: Drink of one another’s love

          and know that you will never again thirst in your heart or in your mind;

for what each of you lacks, the other has to give,

and the well-spring of love flows eternally

for those who drink of its waters.

N & N both drink from the Loving cup, serving each other.

N then says: Share with us the Cup of Love.

The Cup is passed from hand to hand for all to drink from.

The First Food Cake:

N is given the First Food Cake by one of the friends with these words:

         Receive now the First Food Cake.

         As food and drink nourish the body, so does love feed the soul of marriage.

Feed one another; feed for evermore the spirit of your union,

and be filled always.

N & N both eat a piece of the cake, serving one another.

N then says: Share with us the First Food Cake, and so share in our love.

The Cake is passed from hand to hand for all the friends to eat a piece from.

The Light:

N & N are given a lighted candle by one of the friends with these words:

May God who is light shine in your darkness;

May God who is love be the love between you;

May God who is life be your life everlasting.

All: Amen!

We affirm that you are bound, in the light of the Lord,

each to the other, until the end of all your days.

Closing song (chosen by N&N and sung as they lead everyone in procession out of the gathering)