Wedding Ceremony/Vows

PASTOR’S PRAYER

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we thank You that we have before us today, two young people that have first received Your love through salvation and have dedicated their lives to You before they sought to love and dedicate themselves to each other. No one can truly love until they have known Your love. We ask You to be at this altar. We pray that you would solemnize the vows and make sacred the words we say. In Jesus’name. Amen.

PASTOR’S COMMENTS

Today, we are gathered to unite a couple in love, in holy matrimony. It is their day. They and their love are to be the focal point. They have asked you, their family and friends, to share their joy and witness

their vows of love and dedication.

Because of Michelle’s and Mark’s first commitment to Jesus Christ, we have before us a very rare situation. It is traditional for the Bride to wear white as a symbol of the bride’s purity. However, today that tradition is just that, tradition and white does not always bear testimony to the truth of the bride’s condition. Michelle, wants all to know that she has been waiting for the man God has chosen. Men normally wear black. Why, I am not sure, unless because it is representative sometimes of authority, although more often of mourning and that does not fit into a time of joy, such as this. Today, we have a man in white. A rare situation, indeed. A man coming to the altar symbolizing his purity to the one who would be his wife. Truly, in our society,this can only be the result of a life surrendered to Jesus Christ.

These two young people are to be praised for their resistance to the pressures of their society and their stand for their Lord. In fact, my daughter has a present for me today. When she kisses Mark, after the

vows, he will be the only man that she has kissed. She purposed to give me that gift many years ago of her own desire. Some would think that extreme, but if there is to be error, then let it be in trying too hard

to please God then trying to determine how far we can go and still be pure. Brethren, I think it fitting for a round of applause. God shall richly bless them. Two are stronger than one and if they are this

strong apart then their continued submission to God in their union will be a formidable threat to this evil age.

Mark, today you are to become a husband. This is no light thing. It comes with many privileges, but also many responsibilities. I know you to be a hard working man. I know you love my daughter deeply. It is never easy for a man to give his daughter to another man and no one loves his daughter more than I. While it is never easy, it helps to have the assurance that the man she marries loves her as much as him. I have that assurance with you. She will always be my daughter, but I transfer authority over her to you this day and charge you to always stay under the leadership of Jesus Christ and in His will and by this I know you will fulfill His will and mine for her life.

Michelle, my beloved daughter, this is the day that I know you have longed for. You are about to become a wife and a helpmeet to this man. This is not a light thing, either. Mark is not perfect and will

sometimes make mistakes even while seeking to love you and the Lord. Sometimes, he may even fall short of your expectations, but he will always be your husband. He is the man that you believe that God has

given you and you must walk with him, even as Sarah who trusted in the Lord and was preserved, even when her godly husband, Abraham used poor judgment. As you respect the Lord, even when you do not always

understand His ways, so must you always respect and support this man, as a child of God, even when you are unsure of his ways. Do this and both you and Mark will find the riches of Christ in your heart and His

blessings in your life and ministry.

VOWS

If you, Mark Hall, and you, Michelle Louise Bunting, have freely and deliberately chosen each others as partners for life, would you please join your right hands.

Mark, Hall, will you have this woman to be your wedded wife; will you love her, honor and keep her in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth, and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her so long as you both shall live - do you so promise?