Just a few more words about the wedding

Not sure who I'm kidding about that - I'll probably post tons more about this event. But, I really wanted to share Maggie and Aaron's vows. I'd imagined, I think anyway that I imagined, that Maggie would have a Catholic service. Now, I'm not sure why exactly I imagined that; my family is as much Catholic as they are a variety of other spiritual disciplines. My daughters know the rhythm of pipe ceremony as well as they know the Sunday Mass, and they would be just as well at home in the Russian Orthodox liturgy as the Catholic. They can also sing the songs of their grandparents Baptist Wednesday night prayer meeting almost as well as I can. So, though it threw me for a moment, I was not at all disappointed. The following service and vows, are taken from The Course in Miracles which I have studied, and from which I draw many of my beliefs. Somehow, I had never seen these vows and I was delighted to hear them spoken. I hope you enjoy them also.

On behalf of Maggie and Aaron: Greetings to all of you and welcome. Thank you for coming. Maggie and Aaron are very grateful for your support, friendship, and love. Thank you to the six of you up here in the wedding party – who have the honor and duty of standing for these two today.

My name is Thomas Hendrickson and being a longtime friend of the family and having graduated from divinity school, the couple has asked me to officiate. And so it is with great honor and joy that I share of few of my thoughts and blessings with Maggie, Aaron and all of you, as well as guide this ceremony along.

This is the second wedding I’ve presided over. The first one was the wedding of my Cousin and his fiancé, in Colorado. Before I flew out there, I told the master of my Tae Kwon Do school that I would be gone for a week. He asked what I was doing and I told him I would be marrying my cousin in Denver. With a confused look on his face he carefully asked if she was my second cousin!

I am honored to assist you two dear people in joining forces. I have no doubts that this union will be much greater than the sum of its parts.

You are committing to a lifetime of humble, gentle, loyal service to each other. There is no more noble or spiritual path. For in serving each other, you are also serving yourselves and God.

Friends and family, will you all join me in silent prayer as I recite what I consider to be the “Servant’s Prayer” from A Course in Miracles…

“We are here only to be truly helpful.
We are here to represent Him Who sent us.
We do not have to worry about what to say or what to do for He Who sent us will direct us.
We are content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with us.
We will be healed as we let Him teach us to heal.”

Marriage is a Holy relationship. It is a powerful path to enlightenment. If the golden rule is “do unto others as you would have others do unto you”, then the Diamond rule is “The other is you”. In marriage, and all your relationships, practice seeing the other as perfectly innocent, for that is the truth about you. This is your personal and mutual path to love and peace.

If you wonder what innocence looks like, you have the perfect example right in your arms, - your beautiful baby Kael.

Please face each other…
Do you Maggie, take Aaron as your husband, to love and care for him, to accept him as he is, to daily choose him above all others, and to be his true friend?
If so, please say, “I DO”
Do you Aaron, take Maggie as your wife, to love and care for her, to accept her as she is, to daily choose her above all others and to be her true friend?
If so, please say, “I DO”

THE BLESSING OF THE RINGS
AND NOW I BLESS THESE RINGS AND SET THE INTENTION THAT THEY NOW BECOME SYMBOLS OF YOUR DEVOTION TO EACH OTHER AND YOUR EVERLASTING BOND OF HARMONIOUS MATRIMONY.
WILL YOU NOW FACE EACH OTHER?

You two have expressed mutual desire in creating a beautiful and holy partnership of love and spirit based upon growth, honor, loyalty.

Aaron, I would like you to take Maggie’s left hand in yours and place this ring on Maggie’s third finger. Now, as you hold it there and look into her eyes, please repeat after me:
· I promise to open and reveal to you my important joys and concerns;
· I promise to acknowledge the divinity within you
· I promise to share laughter and smiles with you more and more each day;
· I promise to share a listening ear.
· I promise to love you heart and soul, mind and spirit.


Maggie, I would like you to take Aaron’s left hand in yours and place this ring on Aaron’s third finger. Now, as you hold it there and look into his eyes, please repeat after me:

· I promise to open and reveal to you, my important joys and concerns;
· I promise to acknowledge the divinity within you – lifting it up as a beacon to steer us continually towards an uplifting union,
· I promise to cherish you, your roots, purpose and the person you are becoming as we go through life together;
· I promise to share laughter and smiles with you more and more each day;
· I promise to share a listening ear.
· I promise to love you heart and soul, mind and spirit, by the still pond, raging river, mountains and the great ocean.

THE PRONOUNCEMENT
Now that you, Maggie, and you Aaron, have made these promises to yourselves, God, and one another for what may come through thick and thin: By your sacred vows and through the giving and receiving of these rings, by your own solemnization and the blessing of everyone here, including myself; I hereby witness and declare that you are now husband and wife.

Aaron: You may now kiss the bride.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you - your all…
And if you would know God, be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather, look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in the flowers, then rising and waving His hands in the trees.

Good people of this union, I present:
Maggie and Aaron Solenberg, husband and wife.

And I add, so may it be.

~Lee