So happy to be a part of this wonderful day for Matt and Katie!
UPDATE: Some have asked for my notes from the wedding. So for what it’s worth – here they are.
Matt & Katie
November 2, 2014
Seating of moms–Bach Cello Suite
Processional–Alleluja from Exultate Jubilate
Bridal march–Queen of Sheba
Prayer–Pastor Hale?
Greeting
Giving away of bride
Message
Vows
Rings
Communion–Appalachia Waltz
Congregational worship–Cornerstone
Prayer–Pastor Diffee?
Pronouncement
Recessional–La Rejouissance
Dismissal–music continued
PRAYER (Pastor Hale)
GREETING
It is my honor today to welcome all of you here today to celebrate in this joyous event – the marriage of Matt and Katie.
We’re here today to share in their joy and to add our blessings to the sacred vows they are going to make this afternoon.
They have both acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Lord of their personal lives and are also making a stand today to recognize him as the Lord of their home, their marriage and the future they will share together.
Symbol of covenant
We are here today to recognize the sacred covenant of marriage.
In Scripture we see that a covenant is a compact made by between two people – where a sacrifice has been made and the parties of the covenant pass between pieces of flesh.
When God made a covenant with Abram, God had Abram sacrifice several animals and divided the bodies of animals into halves and then God passed through the halves symbolizing the unconditional nature of God’s covenant to Abram.
Today, we have families and friends on each side of the white runner that Katie has walked down.
The two of you will also walk down that same aisle together as you leave this ceremony.
You enter as separate individuals — but you leave united as one in covenant together.
The aisle you walk down symbolizes the sacrifices which have been made in order for the bride and groom to enter into this covenant.
The white runner you walk on is a symbol of walking on holy ground.
A covenant is not made merely between two people and their witnesses.
It is made in the presence of God and He is actively involved in the agreement, since it is God that joins you together.
As Jesus explains in the Gospel of Mark, “‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.â€
Eugene Peterson puts it this way, “Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”
So we stand here in the midst of God’s artwork and stand in awe and with hearts of thankfulness.
GIVING AWAY
To Matt: Matt, in this great gathering of family and friends
do you accept your role as husband,
who will go all out in your love for your wife,
exactly as Christ did for the church—
a love marked by giving,
not getting and
always striving to bring out the best in her?
Matt: I do.
To Katie: Katie, in this great gathering of family and friends
do you accept your role as wife,
who will love and support your husband
in ways that show your love for him and for our Lord–
a love marked by giving,
not getting and
always striving to bring out the best in him?
Katie: I do.
To Father: Who then gives Katie to be united in marriage to Matt?
Dad: her mother and I
MESSAGE
I find it interesting that Jesus began his public ministry at a celebration of love – a wedding.
He ends his ministry talking about love and unity with his disciples around a meal.
Near the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth, he spent time with those closest to him, sharing a meal and giving some final instructions.
Before the meal begins, Jesus takes the role of a servant and begins to wash the feet of his disciples.
Jesus explains that he has set a pattern for his disciples to follow, taking upon the humble role of service and sacrifice for others.
Matt and Katie, as you begin this journey may you never forget the patterns Jesus has set before us.
We see this pattern of service and sacrifice throughout Jesus’ teachings, his ministry and ultimately his death.
May his life and the patterns he set be the guiding light in the years and journey to come.
The disciples had seen and heard this message for the last three years and even after witnessing all they had – they were confused by Jesus’ move to wash their feet.
Service and self-sacrifice isn’t something that comes normal to most of us.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus takes the time to lay down a new commandment.
He told them “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.â€
Now previously Jesus had quoted the Torah when he said the greatest commandments were to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind – and love your neighbor as yourself.”
But now that he’s shown the disciples the pattern they are to follow – he ups the ante.
Because you see it’s one thing to love others as you love yourself – it’s entirely different to love as God has loved you.
And how has God loved you?
Well for starters, he just humbled himself and washed the disciples feet.
In the next 24 hours or so he would die on a cross for all mankind.
And God’s love is unconditional. There’s no, well if they do this or that I’ll love them more.
There’s no earning God’s love by good behavior or losing God’s love through bad behavior.
His grace and love are continually poured out.
And just to be sure the disciples pick up on the pattern Jesus is laying down — Jesus repeats the command a bit later in the evening and says, “Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.”
The Apostle Paul writes of Jesus:
he made himself nothing
by taking the very natureof a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
That’s a lot more than simply following the golden rule and loving others as you would have them love you.
That kind of love will take a power outside ourselves – even in a wonderful marriage.
Because there will be times where loving your spouse won’t come easy.
Perhaps after a fight, or after you didn’t get your way, or maybe you’ve just had a bad day at work and you want to be left alone.
But even in these times, the call to love as God has loved us carries on.
Some of the best advice I was given shortly before my wedding was, “Marriage is not 50/50 as many people will tell you. Marriage is 100/100.”
You give of yourself fully. Because this isn’t a simple contract you can get out of if the other person doesn’t hold their end of the bargain. This is a covenant you’re stepping into.
And even when it feels like 100/0 – you keep giving, over and over again – just as Jesus patterned for us.
And why is it so important to love in such a way? Even when it’s not easy?
Jesus tells us…
“People will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other.”
Matt and Katie, the love that you have for one another is a testament to the love of the Father and it’s a witness to those around you that you are his disciples.
Now before Jesus and the disciples leave the meal, he prays for all believers to have complete unity (he must have known social media and Facebook were on the way).
He prays “May they be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Again, it’s the love and unity you have for one another that shows God to the world around you.
I’m a firm believer that marriage is meant to make us grow as people.
It prepares us for the world outside and as followers of Jesus, it teaches us how to love well.
Because if you have trouble loving the person you’ve made a vow to love till death do you part, how much harder will it be to love your neighbor who plays his music to loud at 11 p.m.?
Or shoots fireworks till 2 a.m. on New Year’s while your babies are trying to sleep?
Your love and your unity together will be your testimony – and it’s a testimony that no one else can replicate.
I’m also a firm believer that God brings people together in marriage for specific callings that only they can accomplish and they can only do together not as individuals.
And I challenge both of you to find that calling for your marriage.
Find those people God has called you to love.
And as these people witness your love for one another, God’s love for them will become even more apparent.
Help others see the love of God by seeing the love you have for one another.
So with this call to love God and to love one another as God has loved us, I want to ask,
Matt and Katie – are you ready to make this commitment to one another?
Matt and Katie: We are.
VOWS
1 Corinthians 13:
No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,â€
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies
Matt to Katie:
In the presence of God and before our family and friends,
I choose you Katie to be my wife and I promise you these things:
I will laugh with you in times of joy, and comfort you in times of sorrow.
I will share in your dreams, and support you as you strive to achieve your goals.
I will listen to you with compassion and understanding,
and speak to you with encouragement and truth.
I will remain faithful to you for better or worse,
in times of sickness and health.
You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always.
Katie to Matt:
In the presence of God and before our family and friends,
I choose you Matt to be my husband and I promise you these things:
I will laugh with you in times of joy, and comfort you in times of sorrow.
I will share in your dreams, and support you as you strive to achieve your goals.
I will listen to you with compassion and understanding,
and speak to you with encouragement and truth.
I will remain faithful to you for better or worse,
in times of sickness and health.
You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always.
RING VOW
I understand there are tokens to be given to seal this vow?
These rings are a seal of the vow you have given to one another.
The circle of the ring has no beginning or end – just like God’s perfect love for you.
And they’re a symbol of how he wants you to love one another in His grace – never ending.
And when you are absent from one another, the presence of the ring reminds you to be faithful and to fulfill your vow to one another.
Exchange of rings
Matt: Katie, this ring is the symbol of my unending love and faithfulness,
and I give it to you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Katie: Matt, this ring is the symbol of my unending love and faithfulness,
and I give it to you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
COMMUNION
We remember our Lord’s sacrifice through the sacrament of communion.
It’s a symbol of God’s love for us.
And it’s a symbol of the love we are to have for one another.
The Lords table is one of unity.
A sign of our coming together as believers.
And so I invite you both to share in the taking of communion as one.
Congregational worship–Cornerstone
PRAYER (Pastor Diffee)
ANNOUNCEMENT
And now, Matt and Katie, as you have joined together in the vows of holy matrimony, I now pronounce you husband and wife in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matt – you may kiss your bride.
BENEDICTION
May the Lord bless you and keep you
May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Now, it is my great pleasure to introduce, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Michael and Katie Lehmann.
