Luke and Katie Lindgren Wedding

Order:

Musical Prelude

1.. Processional

2.Welcome to Guests

3.opening prayer

4. Giving of the bride

5. Declaration of Intent

7. Scripture Reading/ Message/Exhortation

8. Father’s Prayer

9. Presentation of Rings

10. Vows

11. Pronouncement

12. Kiss

13.Introduction of the Couple.

14.Recessional

15.ushers dismiss crowd

Musical Exit

Stand for processional( Bride)

2. Welcome to Guests- Welcome everyone. We’ve come together today to both witness and celebrate the joining of Katie Harrell and Luke Lindgren in the covenant of marriage. They have not chosen to enter into this relationship lightly. I myself, and you as well, have borne witness to the love these two share for each other, The way they communicate together, and the way they place each other before their own wants and desires. Before we begin, Let’s pray.

Opening Prayer- (something Similar to) Lord God, We praise you this day for the two people you have chosen to bring together. Lord, we pray that you will continue to draw Katie and Luke closer to you daily. We pray for you to give them Grace towards each other. We pray you will make your presence in their marriage known not in both the easy and hard times. Lord, we pray, above all that their marriage will glorify you, because that is truly what a marriage should do. It’s in your name we pray. Amen.

Giving of the Bride: Who gives this woman to this man?

Declaration of intent- Marriage is more than a promise to love another person. It is the ending (JOINING or UNITING ) of two lives, and the beginning of one. It is the end of mine, and the beginning of ours, the end of me, and the beginning of us. Your Marriage is intended to join you more closely than a father is with a son, a mother with a daughter, or brother with brother. Afterwards, you will be forever joined together , in the eyes of both God and Men. You have made it know that you want to be joined together in marriage. I’m going to ask you to declare it.

Luke,

Do you take Katie to be your wife, and do you commit yourself to her, to be responsible in the marriage relationship, to give yourself to her in love and work, to invite her fully into your being so that she can know who you are, to cherish her above all others. And to respect her individuality by encouraging her to be herself and to grow in all that God intends?

Luke: I do (or right on… whatever. I’m easy. That was a joke…)

Katie,

Do you take Luke to be your Husband, and do you commit yourself to him, to be responsible in the marriage relationship, to give yourself to him in love and work, to invite him fully into your being so that he can know who you are, to cherish him above all others. And to respect his individuality by encouraging him to be himself and to grow in all that God intends?

Katie: I Do

(to audience) and do all of you, being the close friends and family of this couple, promise to lift them up, to support them in prayer and in action, doing all that is in your power to draw them closer to each other, and closer to God? If so, answer we will.

(I expect at least one hell no… another joke.)

- couple joins me on stage, father returns to aisle seat, will return when I ask for him to come forward and pray. -

6. Scripture Reading/ Message/Exhortation- Katie and Luke, I know an extraordinary amount of planning and time has been spent preparing for this day. You have spent lots of time planning your move, saving money, purchasing decorations, planning a reception, renting space, the works. However, today really isn’t about today. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the past several months building up to today…but how much of your premarital counseling was about your wedding day? Our focus today shouldn’t be on your wedding, it should be on your marriage. Today, your wedding day, marks the end of one thing and the beginning of another. It marks the end of your lives apart, and the beginning of your life together. Because of this, we’re going to take a minute to look at marriage, and what it entails. We’re going to start in Ephesians, Chapter 5, verse 21, which begins;

21Submit to one anotheraout of reverence for Christ.

22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbandsbas you do to the Lord.c23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church,dhis body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbandse in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives,fjust as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for herg1

A lot is often said about the implication of the words “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands in everything”. By itself, with no background knowledge, the terminology seems sexist and out of date. In fact, it is true that many men have used this verse to try and lord over their households. I would like to point out two things. The first is the most obvious. It is often overlooked that this passage begins with the words “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submission is not an act required on only one side of this equation. In a true marriage, both sides will place the needs of the other party before their own. Love isn’t an emotion. Love is the recognition that someone else is more important to you, than you are. Their happiness and well being takes precedence over your own wants, desires, needs, and sometimes, over your very lives. As Jesus said, greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for a friend. Please notice that in this passage the exhortation given to the husband is that he is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. How much did Christ love the Church? He loved them enough not just to die for us, but he also loved us enough he chose to take the form of a servant. He chose to serve us. This concept may seem alien, but Luke, you are not just to love Katie. You are to love her to the point that you would be willing to do anything for her, including humble yourself before her, and, if necessary, to die for her. We can see Jesus do this many times. The most obvious is in john 13, which states:

13 It was just before the Passover Festival.aJesus knew that the hour had comebfor him to leave this world and go to the Father.cHaving loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his loved, (or loved them to the end)

2The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.d3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,e and that he had come from Godfand was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.g5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,hdrying them with the towel that was wrapped around him….12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place2

Jesus loved his disciples (and the church) enough that while he was by his very nature god, he was willing to take on the form, and the role of the lowest person in the household. He was willing to take a job that no one wanted to do, and that, by his position, should not have fallen to him to do. He did it anyway, because he loves us. In the same way, he was willing to take the form of a servant when, even though we are imperfect, and had failed him before, he chose to die for us. Luke, your role is hard, too. Your are charged with showing all the love Jesus showed to the church to your wife. If you can do that well, Katie’s role will be much, much easier. Katie, Your role is to respect Luke, and to mirror the submission he shows you. We as the church do not serve Christ out of fear, nor should we act as if we are burdened by our submission to him. We choose to follow him because of how he served us. Katie, your job is hard, because while Jesus was perfect, Luke is not, nor will he ever be. This mean, there will be times when he messes up. In this, you need to be forgiving, as Christ is. Luke, Katie will also make mistakes in marriage. You are to love her as Christ did anyway.

This leads to the second thing I wanted to point out about Ephesians. In the verse we read, the husband and wife take on the roles of Christ and the church. The reason for this is simple. The relationship you will have together in your marriage should be such that by the very way you interact with each other, you should glorify Christ. Your relationship should be so different from what the world sees marriage to be that other people should look at you and wonder why you’re different. People should see you and want to know Jesus.

I’m also going to say this part again. Jesus is perfect. you are not. You both will make mistakes. You will both be wrong at different times in your marriage. You will need to be like Jesus in another way. You need to be forgiving, and you need to offer each other more grace than they deserve. You need to remember that you are not strong enough to keep your marriage together on your own. You will need the strength that can only come through Jesus. On that note, I would like to invite the brides father to come forward and pray for our couple today.

7. Father’s Prayer

(If doing a ring exchange, this presentation of rings should go after the wedding vows…)

8. Presentation of Rings- Thank you Sir. May I have the rings please? Katie and Luke, I’m holding in my hands two rings. These rings are mere objects, but they represent something far greater. These rings represent sacrifice (to audience) I don’t know if you know this, but the rings I am holding were not paid for by credit. Luke has spent over a year saving a portion of his pay in order to purchase these rings outright. Luke, you have been sacrificing some of your money, time, some fun, so that you might have something worthwhile. May this ring signify that mindset. When you see it, may it remind you that there is something more important than your immediate wants and desires. Katie, I know you have done the same thing as Luke. You have been saving, you have been sacrificing your finances, your comfort, and your time so that you may be better prepared to step into your marriage. You both have been an awesome example of true, sacrificial love towards each other. It is obvious that each of you value the other more than anything else this world has to offer. May these rings serve as reminders of the sacrifices you have made in the past for your life together, and may they remind you that sacrifice will always be necessary, for from this moment on, you are no longer living for yourselves. You are now to live for each other.

9. Vows- Luke, Please take this ring, place it on Katie’s hand, and repeat after me.

I, Luke,

Take you, Katie,

to be my wife

To have and to hold

From this day forward

For better or worse,

for richer for poorer

In sickness and in health

To love and to cherish

Until we are parted by death

As God is my witness

With my whole heart

I give you my promise

Katie, please take this ring, place it onto Luke’s hand, and repeat after me.

I, Katie

Take you, Luke,

to be my husband

To have and to hold

From this day forward

For better or worse,

for richer for poorer

In sickness and in health

To love and to cherish

Until we are parted by death

As God is my witness

With my whole heart

I give you my promise

10. Pronouncement -Luke and Katie,

Now that you have given yourselves to each other, in front of God and these witnesses, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.

11. Kiss

12.Introduction of the Couple. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you, for the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Luke and Katie Lindgren

13. Recessional