Vow Renewal

THE ADDRESS

Debbie and Robert, when you first joined hands and hearts in marriage 50 years ago, you did not know where life would take you. You promised to love, honor and cherish one another through all things. Life has surely brought you both wonderful blessings and difficult challenges over the years. But here you are today, having fulfilled the vows to love, honor and cherish you each made on your wedding day. And God is smiling! As you celebrate here today, and as you reflect over all the years as husband and wife, do you now wish to reaffirm the vows you took 50 years ago?

WE DO

Please face each other and join hands.

RENEWAL OF VOWS

Robert, will you continue to have Debbie as your wife and continue to live in this happy and loving marriage?

Robert: I WILL

Do you reaffirm your love for her, and will you love, honor and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?

Robert: I DO

Debbie, will you continue to have Robert as your husband and continue to live in this happy and loving marriage?

Debbie: I WILL

Do you reaffirm your love for him, and will you love, honor and cherish him in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him for as long as you both shall live?

Debbie: I DO

SCRIPTURE READING

1 Corinthians 13 (NKJV) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

BLESSING OF THE COUPLE

Marriage is a commitment to learning to care for one another in mutually fulfilling ways. It is not an act but a life-long relationship always in the making. Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher, commitment is stronger, even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, and new ways of expressing a love that is deeper than life. When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise made in the hearts of two people who love each other, and the potential of marriage requires a lifetime to fulfill.

PRONOUNCEMENT

Robert and Debbie, today you have renewed the promises and vows you made to each other on your wedding day. You have symbolized the renewal of the marriage union by the joining of hands and the taking of vows. It is with pleasure that I conclude the ceremony of renewing the vows of marriage that joined you and forever binds you as husband and wife. Please celebrate this renewal of vows with a sign of affection…. You may kiss!

PRAYER

Numbers 6:24–26 (NKJV) “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’