Mom and Dad Vow Renewal

Welcome and Introduction

Dearly beloved family and friends,

we have gathered together this day

in the sight of God and these witnesses,

to celebrate the vow renewal of Juanito and Sharon Gonzalez

Mom and Dad are grateful to each one of you

for coming to this beutiful place

to show your love and support

as they commit to one another once more before God on this joyful day.

Let us bow our heads and begin this ceremony with prayer to our good God.

Opening Prayer

Our most gracious God and Father, we thank you this wonderful time of sharing together in the bond of Holy Love. We are thankful for your amazing grace in sending your Son Jesus to be the Christ, so that we could be reconciled to you and seek your favor and blessing on Dad and Mom this day.

O Lord, we do seek your continued blessing upon their union today, as Dad and Mom commit their vows of love to each other once again. Holy Father, grant that these vows would continue to remain ever sacred in their hearts and actions.

Lord, keep them strong in their most holy faith, and please cause them to be an unending source of encouragement to each other, to us their family, and to your church. We ask that you would keep their love strong and enduring, cause their home to continue to be a place of much peace and joy, and keep their lives centered and focused on our Jesus, all the rest of their days.

This we ask in the blessed and most holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Message

Mirror of God’s Faithfulness

In each of the small handful of weddings that I have officiated so far

I have mentioned that marriage was designed by God to be a mirror.

In Ephesians 5 Paul concludes his instruction that a husband is to love their wives as their bodies, nourishing and cherishing his wife, just as Christ nourishes and cherishes the church.

Then he supports this statement with a quote from the very first wedding ceremony in human history, Eph 5:31 “31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER

AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE,

AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.”

And Paul then finishes his point with this profound truth, Eph 5:32

“32 This mystery is great,

but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”

The mystery that Paul is revealing here is that the institution of holy matrimony was created by God,

thousands of years prior to the cross and pentacost,

to point to the ultimate relationship of Christ and the church

Marriage was created to be a mirror.

And when I usually make that statement

I make it as a charge to two young individuals about to embark on their marriage together

I call them to love one another, to serve one another, to worship and honor Christ

as the wife humbly submits to her husband

and as the husband leads His wife with a self-sacrificial and servant hearted love

And When they are promising to each other to love one another as long as they both shall live,

I am exhorting them to do that very thing all the days and years after they say I do.

But that is not the case this day.

Today we all have the privilege of looking at a mirror that has been

polished and clarified for 33 years,

by 33 years of care, of sacrifice, of patience,

and of a gospel love that covers over each others sins and imperfections.

Today we are blessed with a moment to reflect on a marriage

that is not one filled with hopeful promises as it was on its first day,

But on a marriage that has been built on the bedrock

of 3 decades of covenant faithfulness.

And that is the theme that I wish to linger up today. Faithfulness.

That saying at the end of marriage ceremonies,

“what God has joined together let no man separate”

is not a throw away line, but instead intended as one last charge to the newly marriage couple

to reflect the relationship of Christ and the Church

One of the most blessed realities of our relationship with Christ is

that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,

That He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us

That He will always be with us, even to the end of the age

That He has declared Himself to be our faithful God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness to a thousand generations

And so we who are married, are charged to possess this same covenant keeping love,

we are charged to uphold our vow to love and to cherish till death do us part.

we are to mirror to each other the faithfulness of Christ to His bride, the church.

God’s Pattern of Reaffirmation

Not only declared but demonstrates

Not only promised but performed

One of the best examples of this is God’s covenant to Abraham

Promises made: Gen 12 - Abraham 75 yo

Covenant Established: Genesis 15 - somewhere in the next 24 years

Covenant signified: Genesis 17 - 24 years later

Covenant reaffirmed: Genesis 22 - 62 years later

Charge to the to the Couple

Just as God did for Abraham to...

To show His faithfulness

To show His presence

To show His enduring love

Renewal of Vows

Dad, Mom, you’ve shared the joys, blessings, and the challenges, of married life for 33 years. And, this day, it’s your wish to reaffirm covenant of faithful marital love to one another as man and wife for the rest of your days.

It is our prayer that this ceremony, this renewing of the vows you took to become husband and wife on your wedding day, would remind you anew of your love, respect, trust and enduring commitment to each other and to God.

Dad will you join hands with Mom and please repeat after me as you pledge yourself to your bride once more?

I, Juanito, take you, Sharon, to be my wife,

To have and to hold,

For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,

To love and to cherish,

And To Exalt the name of Christ together

For as long as we both shall live.

Mom will you please repeat after me as you pledge yourself to your husband once more?

I, Sharon, take you, Juanito, to be my husband,

To have and to hold,

For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,

To love and to cherish,

And To Exalt the name of Christ together

For as long as we both shall live.

Blessing and Pronouncement

Dad and Mom, May the good Lord grant that your lives be filled with His love, your home to be filled with His peace, and your hearts filled with the hope of Heaven’s eternal joy as you continue to share your life together as man and wife.

What God joined together 33 years ago, let no man or woman separate!

To which we all say, Amen!

Dad will you please conclude this ceremony by kissing your bride?