Hello everyone!
May God bless you and keep you on this February day. God is so good to continually pursue an intimate love relationship with us!
In honor of our 2 month wedding anniversary, we wanted to share our wedding liturgy. These prayers and verses combined are a bit like our marriage vows, and I know some of y'all have expressed interest in reading it - let us know what blessed you or stood out to you!
There's a fun picture waiting at the bottom :)
Source and Foundation for our Marriage
All: Jesus himself is our peace.
Leader: 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Leader: 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-22)
All: Jesus Himself is our peace.
Leader: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And thou shalt renew the face of the earth.” (Attributed to by Rabanus Maurus, a 9th-century German monk)
Jesus himself is our peace. Jesus brings nations together, allowing them to become a part of His family--no matter their backgrounds, race, personalities, and cultures. He’s in the business of bringing people together, making them one through the fellowship they share in His Spirit.
Leader: And just as the Spirit of God creates the happy union between Christ and His church, the bond between a husband and wife is woven together and sustained through the divine working of the same Spirit. It is Emily and Hawken’s privilege and calling, through their union, to demonstrate to a watching world the intimacy and peace that Christ brings to all relationships. Today we are the joyful witnesses of this mystery!
In the home that Hawken and Emily will build as husband and wife, nothing is more important than acknowledging Christ as the cornerstone - the very center and strength of their foundation. As a result, their home will become God’s dwelling place where His glory is magnified and people meet Jesus.
All: Jesus himself is our peace.
All: Lord, may Hawken and Emily experience and share the deep peace that You bring.
Sustenance for our Marriage
All: Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Leader: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Leader: 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:1-9)
All: Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Leader: How humbling, yet empowering. Without Jesus, Emily and Hawken cannot love each other with a true, selfless love. Remaining in Jesus is necessary for a fruitful, loving, and lasting relationship to exist. Isn’t it beautiful that by making Jesus your first priority, your ultimate Lover, you find the power not only to love, but to bear fruit?
Leader: As Hawken and Emily pursue Jesus together, may they be branches loaded with fruit! The Kingdom fruit produced from their marriage will bless the world and glorify the Father. Look to the vine little branches! Never forget the source of your fruitfulness.
All: Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
All: Lord, take these lowly branches, having been grafted into the glorious, nutritious and fruitful vine, and make us grow. In this dry and arid world, may we bear fruit for the sake of your glory. We recognize that without your presence and nourishment, we can do nothing.
Fruit of our Marriage
All: You will be like a well watered garden.
Leader: 9a “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9b Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
Leader: 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Isaiah 58:8-12)
19b And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:19b-20)
All: You will be like a well watered garden.
Leader: In the span of the history of this world, your marriage will last only for a short season, and yet, how fraught with meaning it might be! For this is the holy time apportioned for you to prove the faithfulness of God, and to display his glories in the unique invention of your marriage.
Leader: So spend this short season well. Spend each of your shared moments and hours. Spend them in wondering delight at the blessings of God. Spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed. Do away with the yoke of oppression. Set the captives free. Clothe the naked. Welcome the foreigner. Spend your moments in passioned pursuit of Christ, in fellowship with his people, in constant love and service to one another and to your family, your neighbors, your community. (Adapted from Every Moment Holy)
All: You will be like a well-watered garden.
All: Lord, may Hawken and Emily’s lives together be woven as a parable of hope in a world desperate for visible evidences that the eternal longing for redemption and reconciliation is real, that the deep ache for beauty might yet lead to something lasting, and that the glorious rumors of divine love and mercy are true. May you guide them always; may You satisfy their needs in a sun-scorched land and strengthen their frame. May they be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Amen
Thanks for reading!
- Hawk and Em
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| Speaking of well-watered gardens, here's a picture of a little piece of land we are turning into a garden! Join us in praying for this land to be blessing to many :) |
