Simple Contemporary Christian Wedding Ceremony Idea
Rev. Chris Mohr wedding at Red Rocks Park
This simple ceremony is perfect for Christian couples who wish to have wedding ceremony wording that sounds more updated, and can be comfortably enjoyed by a mixed crowd of guests both religious and nonreligious. Who disagrees with the idea that love is the greatest thing in the world?
Friends, we are gathered here today to celebrate the love of _____________ and _____, as they make their pledges of marriage before God and before this company. Jesus Christ was once asked, “What is the greatest Law that mankind must follow?” And he answered them by saying that we must love God with all our hearts, and love our neighbors as our self.
I think that when he said these words, he touched upon something we all feel very deeply in our hearts, and that is that love is the greatest gift we can offer one another, and that is what makes marriage so very special, and such a cause of joy and celebration for all of us who have come here today to share in this event.
It is my personal prayer and hope that those of you who have already taken the vows of marriage will witness the love of these two people, and as you hear them share their vows, perhaps it will strengthen for you the memory of your happy day, and remind you of the meaning of the vows you yourselves once took. Perhaps it will even strengthen just a little bit the bonds of love that have been growing between you. If any of this should happen, it would certainly be the greatest gift that __________ and ________ could offer all of us on their wedding day.
Marriage is an act of faith and ever-deepening commitment, as well as a loving union between a man and a woman. It has been described as the best and the most important relationship that two people can share, the creation of a single growing energy of spiritual life. Marriage can be a lifelong unfolding of loving kindness, backed by the will to make it last. There is no limit to the knowing of another’s soul, and when you learn to love one person, then you grow in love for all of humanity.
Reading (Other readings available in section further below) : We read in I Corinthians 13, Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have no love, I have become as sounding brass or a clang- ing 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. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. Love rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Optional Prayers available in section further below
Vows (Alternative Vows also available in section further below) : ______________, do you take _______________ to be your husband, to love him, to cherish him, and to continually bestow upon him your heart’s deepest devotion? {I do.} And ______________, do you take _________________ to be your wife, to love her, to cherish her, and to continually bestow upon her your heart’s deepest devotion? {I do.}
Please join hands, face one another and repeat after me: __________, you are my beloved, to love and to cherish, and to have and to hold, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, in sadness and in joy, to share our lives together, from this day forward. (Both bride and groom repeat these vows individually).
Rings: (Alternative Rings also available in section further below) What tokens of your love and devotion do you have to offer one another? {These Rings/This Ring}
May these rings be blessed as a symbol of this affectionate unity. Your two lives are being joined today in one unbroken circle. Wherever you go, may you always return to one another in your togetherness. May you find in one another the love for which all men and women yearn. May you grow in understanding and compassion. May the home which you establish together be such a place of sanctuary that all who are here today and others through the years will find there true friends. May these rings, soon to be on your fingers, symbolize the touch of the spirit of love that is in both ,your hearts. ______, in placing the ring on ______’s left hand, please repeat after me: __, I give you this ring as a pledge of my love, and as a symbol of our unity.
Optional Additions (Unity Candles, Roses, Children etc.) also available in section further below
Declaration of Marriage: ________ and ____________, you have consented together to marriage before this company, pledged your faith and declared your unity by each giving and receiving a ring, and, as you are now joined together in mutual esteem and devotion, it is my privilege as an ordained minister to pronounce that you are married, and to offer you this Benediction of the Apaches:
“Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no more loneliness for you, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place, to enter into the days of your togetherness, and may your days be good, and long upon, the earth.”
Congratulations, you may now kiss the bride!
Alternative: Congratulations, you may now kiss one another. (Optional🙂 Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. (or first names of bride and groom)_______________________________.
Sermon #1 Nondenominational Sermon #3 Traditional Christian Sermon #4 Simplified Catholic