Solt Family Vows Renewal

Wedding Vow Renewal

Solt Family

30 December 2024

We are gathered here in the presence of God and of Mr. Edward Solt and Jessica Solt, and the company present to renew in holy marriage Mr. and Mrs. Solt, and to bear witness to the transforming power of love.

Love is a quality of spirit and an attitude of emotions, but a marriage is a life’s work, a spiritual art form. Therefore this is an occasion of both profound joy and great responsibility, and we who partake in it bind ourselves as witnesses to the labor of love that Mr. and Mrs. Solt continue to express.

In acknowledgement of this holy purpose and of the power of this occasion, let us pray.

PRAYER

THE READING

1 Cor 13:2-8

Love is a major key in a lasting and joyous marriage. The apostle Paul expressed such love in 1 Corinthians 13:2-8

if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends.[1]

THE ADDRESS

As we have heard, love in this form is the greatest of virtues, the highest spiritual work. Love is both enduring and transcendent. Such love has the capacity to deliver marriage from being merely a domestic arrangement or supportive partnership and elevate it into a spiritual enterprise.

When we speak of marriage in spiritual terms, we are inviting ourselves into it at a much higher level. To participate in marriage of this kind is not only to continue into it as the estate that will bring us happiness, but to see it also as the spiritual crucible of transformation, of suffering, and also of great joy.

Therefore, as you continue in marriage, you must remember first of all that marriage is continuous process of transformation. Because of it, inside of it, and in response to it, you will continue to change remarkably with it. And, as you already know, not exclusively in the ways you had hoped or imagined. For marriage is the spiritual grinding stone that will continue to polish you both to your brightest brilliance.

It causes you to become not only who you wanted to be, but also the person you have no choice but to be. In marriage, you are reformed, for in daily choosing to love and make your whole life with this person, you are choosing to be affected. You are polished through the actions of your beloved, through the praise, the criticism, frustrations, excitement, actions and inactions.

In this regard, it is important to continue to remember that, more than you can possibly imagine, you are drawn to precisely that person who possesses the attributes you need to be affected by in order to change. These are the very qualities that, because of their capacity to irritate you and inspire you, will encourage in you the very dimensions you lack, the qualities that, as you acquire them, will represent an enlargement of your soul.

Continue to learn to be kinder, or more gently critical, to be empathetic, and more trusting. Continue to grow and transcend your own limitations – your judgments, lack of trust, fear of intimacy, and pride – and instead strive for those beautiful opposites in acceptance, closeness, trust, transparency, and servitude.

I commend you for exemplifying and continuing to grow to the place where you both receive comfort and satisfaction in your love for each other. Cherish the vision of your marriage – what it has been, where it is, and what it can be. Believe in each other, and believe in the bond you have as sacred – continually being perfected.

With Jesus at the center of your marriage, you can find no trial insurmountable, and you’ll find no greater love for one another than what God gives through you to each other.

EXCHANGE OF VOWS

At this time, my understanding is Edward Solt would like to recommit His vow.

And now Misty Solt has the opportunity to respond.

Default:

Misty, feel free to repeat after me: I, Misty Mishel Solt, still take you, Edward Lee Solt, as my wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God’s order and will, in this I continue to promise.

THE RINGS

And now the reminder of the privilege you each share of one another – the marriage rings.

May these rings always symbolize the purity and timelessness of love that binds your hearts together.

As endless circles they remind you of the unending love which unites your lives. May these rings continue to be worn with great honor and be a reminder of the unity that binds you both.

WEDDINGS

Edward, will you now take your ring and repeat after me as you place it on your bride’s finger: “With this ring I thee wed, and upon the union of our hands and hearts, I pray the blessing of Almighty God.”

Misty, will you now take your ring and repeat after me:

“With this ring I thee wed, and upon the union of our hands and hearts, I pray the blessing of Almighty God.”

PRONOUNCEMENT OF MARRIAGE

Forasmuch as Mr. and Mrs. Solt consent together, continuing in marriage, and are witnessed by this present company;

Having pledged their continued faith and love to each other, and have declared through exchanging of vows their recommitment, and by exchanging their rings once more, I pronounce they are man and wife, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sir, kiss your bride!

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Co 13:2–8.