We are assembled to celebrate the joining of John and Sonja in marriage. Marriage is a covenant of love. It calls for esteem and concern, for comfort in trouble, for joy in achievement, for mutuality in all things. Marriage is, in our common understanding, a holy estate, and is to be held in honor by all.
As a Unitarian Universalist minister it is my privilege to participate in a moment made sacred by the intentions of this couple. And it is especially appropriate that you, the families and friends, are here to participate in this wedding, for the ideas, the understanding, the mutual respect which John and Sonja bring to this marriage have root in the love and friendship which you have shared with them.
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As we have all gathered in this spirit, we are now joined as witnesses to your intentions.
I ask that you turn and face each other, and take each other's hands, and say in turn after me the pledges you have chosen.
John, please repeat after me:
I, John, take you, Sonja, to be my wedded wife. I promise to strive always
to consider your needs in addition to my own; to be a source of strength
for you; to accept your strength for myself; to share freely my thoughts
and feelings; to listen when you share yours with me. I make these solemn
promises, to keep in times of plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow;
in sickness and in health; from this day forward.
Sonja, please repeat after me:
I, Sonja, take you, John, to be my wedded husband. I promise to strive always
to consider your needs in addition to my own; to be a source of strength
for you; to accept your strength for myself; to share freely my thoughts
and feelings; to listen when you share yours with me. I make these solemn
promises, to keep in times of plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow;
in sickness and in health; from this day forward.
The wedding ring is the symbol of the promises you have made here today. As you look upon these rings from day to day, may they be to you the symbols of warmth and understanding, of a strong, devoted love.
John, please place this ring on Sonja's finger and repeat after me:
With this ring I thee wed. And with it I pledge my honor, my love, and my
life.
Sonja, please place this ring on John's finger and repeat after me:
With this ring I thee wed. And with it I pledge my honor, my love, and
my life.
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another -- not so much to fill your emptiness as to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and with you...
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, mmay both of you hope to have enough good sense to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery which is one another's presence -- no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even in distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another!
Amen
John and Sonja having declared their love and purposes before these gathered witnesses and having made their pledges to each other, by the powers vested in me, I declare that they are husband and wife. Let all others honor them and the threshold of their home.
As we now send you forth upon your life together, I wish that you may be united in love and harmony, now and forever.
Amen.
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