Wedding OUtline

WEDDING OF

PROCESSIONAL

Wedding Charge

Ø We are here assembled in the presence of God to unite and Jessica in marriage.

Ø The Bible teaches that marriage is to be a permanent relationship of one man and one woman freely and totally committed to each other as companions for life. Our Lord declared that man shall leave his father and mother and unite with his wife in the building of a home, and the two shall become one flesh.

Pastor Johnson:Who gives the bride to be married? (Bride’s Father): [I do].

Pastor Johnson

HAND ILLUSTRATION

Ø , the Bible has much to say about marriage- directly and indirectly. The very first people of creation were brought together by God who saw that it was not good for man to be alone. Eve was created to be Adams companion and his helper in all things. Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding. Some of His most famous parables flow out of the context of marriage.

Ø Marriage is the clasping of hands, the blending of hearts, the union of two lives becoming one. This marriage will stand by the strength of your love and the power of faith you have in one another and also in God.

Ø I want to ask you to turn and face one another now.

Ø , please take Curtis’s hands and hold them palms up so that you may see them for the gift which they are to you.

Ø These are the hands of your best friend. They are young and strong and vibrant with love- these hands, which are resting in yours on this wedding day, are the hands of the one whom is promising to love you for all the remaining days of your life. These are the hands, which will work along side you and will build your future, as you laugh and cry as you share your innermost secrets and dreams. These are the hands, which will be placed against your womb with expectant joy when he feels the child stir within you. These hands, which appear so large and strong today, will be soft and gentle as he holds your baby for the first time. These hands will work long hours for you and your new family and they are the hands which will passionately love and cherish you throughout the years- the same hands will wipe away tears of sorrow and tears of joy from your eyes. These are the hands which will comfort you in times of illness and which will hold you when grief intrudes your home. These are the hands, which will tenderly lift your chin and brush your cheek as they raise your face to look into his eyes- eyes that will be filled with passion for you.

Ø Curtis, would you please take Jamila ’s hands, palms up, so that you may see them for the fits, which they are to you.

Ø These hands are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young, and carefree which are holding yours on this wedding day as she pledges her love and commitment to you for all the days of her life. These are the hands, which will hold your children in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way and knowing when it is time to let go. These are the hands which will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times- they are the hands which will comfort you when you are sick and will console you when you grieve. These are the hands, which will passionately love you and cherish you through all the years for a lifetime of happiness. These same hands will support you as you pursue your dreams of all that God has enabled you to be and become. Together, as a team, her hands in yours, your wishes will be realized.

Ø Please join me in prayer…

Ø God, bless these hands that you see before you on this day. May they always be held by one another and may they find the strength to keep holding on when the storms of worry, distress, anxiety and fear attack their home. May these hands remain tender and gentle as they nurture one another in their wondrous love. May these hands continue to build a relationship founded in Your grace, rich in caring and devoted to reaching for Your perfection of them. We ask this prayer in Your Holy Name, amen.

Ø You are asked to dedicate your home to your Creator. Take His Word, the Bible, for your guide. Give loyal devotion to His church and live your lives as His willing servants, and true happiness will be your reward.

WEDDING VOWS

Ø “Please join right hands”.

Pastor Johnson

Ø Curtis, will you take Jamila to be your wife; will you commit yourself to her happiness and her self-fulfillment as a person, and to her usefulness in God’s Kingdom; and will you promise to love, honor, trust, and serve her in sickness and in health, in adversity, and prosperity, and to be true and loyal to her, so long as you both shall live?

Ø (Curtis): [I will].

Pastor Manigault

Ø Jamila will you take Curtis to be your husband; will you commit yourself to his happiness and his self-fulfillment as a person, and to his usefulness in God’s Kingdom; and do you promise to love, honor, trust, and serve him in sickness and in health, in adversity and prosperity, and to be true and loyal to him, so long as you both shall live?

Ø (Jamila ): [I will].

EXCHANGING OF THE RINGS

Ø (Jamila will hand her bouquet to the maid of honor. The best-man will give the ring to the minister.)

Pastor Johnson: The wedding ring is a symbol of marriage in at least two ways: the purity of gold symbolizes the purity of your love for each other, and the unending circle symbolizes the unending vows which you are taking, which may be broken honorably in the sight of God only by death. As a token of your vows, you will give and receive the rings.

Pastor Manigault:

Ø Curtis, you will give the ring and repeat after me:

Ø “Jamila with this ring I pledge my life and love to you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

Ø Jamila , you will give the ring and repeat after me:

Ø “Curtis, with this ring I pledge my life and love to you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

Pastor Johnson:

Sand Ceremony

Curtis and Jamila, today you join your separate lives together. The two separate bottles of sand symbolize your separate lives, separate families and separate sets of friends. They represent all that you are and all that you’ll ever be as an individual. They also represent your lives before today. As these two containers of sand are poured into the third container, the individual containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.

Ø The Bible teaches that in marriage two become one flesh. In symbolism of this you will now pour your individual containers.

Groom and Bride have chosen to take their very first communion as husband and wife in your presence to acknowledge the place that their spiritual commitments will continue to have in their new life together.

In observing Communion we are remembering Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us and his ultimate sacrifice:

“And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."

Pass out elements: Pastor Manigault

When we observe Communion we are also showing our participation in the body of Christ. His life becomes our life and we become members of each others:

Curtis, Jamila, The taking of communion together, when remembering sacrifice of Jesus Christ, ensures that we do not forget that we are all one body, one blood, and one spirit, and that the breaking of bread and sharing of a cup is more than nourishment or the quenching of thirst, but the sharing of ourselves.

Blessing of the Couple: Pastor Manigault

The Lord’s Prayer: Song

Pronouncement: Pastor Manigault

Ø Since they have made these commitments before God and these witnesses, by the authority of God and the laws of the State of South Carolina, We declare that Curtis and Jamila are husband and wife.

Ø Curtis and Jamila , you are no longer two independent persons but one.

Ø “What therefore God has joined together let no man separate.”

Ø Curtis you may kiss your bride.

Presentation of Gifts

Presentation of Couple: Pastors

Ø Let us be the first to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Williams.