Music
Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my mom, Paul
Not the way that I do love you
Well, holy, holy, real life, healthy apple of my eye
Girl, I never loved one like you
Man, oh man, you're my best friend, I scream it too
Nothing there, there ain't nothing that I need
Well, hot and heavy, pumpkin pie, chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
Ain't nothing please me more than you
Oh, let me go home, home is where I'm with you
Oh, la, la, la, la, take me home
Baby, I'm coming home
I follow you into the park through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I never loved one like you
Moats and boats and waterfalls, alleyways and payphone calls
I've been everywhere with you
That's true, laugh until we think we're done
They put on a seminar, never could be sweeter than with you
And in your streets you run a free life, it's only you and me
I'll show you if you're something to see
Oh, let me go home, home is where I'm with you
Oh, la, la, la, la, take me home
Baby, I'm coming home
Oh, la, la, la, la, take me home
Welcome to St. John St. Matthew Emmanuel Lutheran Church on this joyous day.
This is a thriving congregation that Cassie and Eric have joined
and we're delighted to have them as members
and delighted that all of you are here with us this afternoon.
You have a role to play.
To witness is not a passive verb, it is an active verb.
There are places in your bulletin where you find bold words.
They are for you to proclaim boldly as witnesses to this wonderful event
that I know you're as delighted to be a part of as I am.
All right, let's enjoy the prelude.
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
The love of God, Dante.
The love of God, unutterable and perfect, flows into a pure soul
the way that light rushes into a transparent object.
The more love it finds, the more it gives itself
so that as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of loving is
and the more the struggles resonate together, the greater the intensity of their love
for mere light, each soul reflects.
I'm glad it's my love, my fair one, my beautiful face
The love of God, Dante.
The love of God, Dante.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Eric and Cassie have come to make their marriage vows in the presence of God and of this assembly.
The uniting of this man and this woman in heart, body and mind is intended by God for their mutual joy
for the help and comfort they give one another in prosperity and adversity
and that their love may be a blessing to all whom they encounter.
Let us now witness their promises to each other and surround them with our prayers
giving thanks to God for the gift of marriage and asking God's blessing upon them
that they may be strengthened for their life together and nurtured in the love of God.
Eric, will you have Cassie to be your wife, to live together in the covenant of marriage?
Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health
and forsaking all others be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?
Yes.
Cassie, will you have Eric to be your husband, to live together in the covenant of marriage?
Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health
and forsaking all others be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?
Yes, I will.
Will you, the families and friends of Eric and Cassie, give your love and blessing to this new family?
We will.
Well done.
The song of songs.
The voice of my beloved.
Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look, there he stands, behind our wall, gazing in the windows, looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me, Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree brings forth its stakes and the vines are in blossom.
The fourth fragrance, Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
O, my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff,
catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
My beloved is mine and I am his.
He pastures his flock among the lilies, until the day greets and the showers flee.
Turn my beloved, be like a gazelle, or a young stag on the left mountains.
From the book and the brotherhood by Iris Murdoch.
I hereby give myself.
I love you.
You are the only being whom I can love absolutely with my complete self.
With all my flesh and mind and heart, you are my mate, my perfect partner, and I am yours.
You must feel this now as I do.
It was a marvel that we ever met.
It is some kind of divine luck that we are together now.
We must never, never part again.
We are here in this necessary being, like gods.
As we look at each other, we verify, we know, the perfection of our love.
We recognize each other.
Here is my life.
Here, if need be, is my death.
You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
You may be seated.
The love of God, unutterable and perfect, flows into a pure soul, the way that light rushes into a transparent object.
The more love that it finds, the more it gives itself.
The day that you met, which you described to me during our marriage preparation, and which I also read about on your wedding site.
The day that you met, I know that you each found another soul that was filled with love.
You both speak of the immediacy, the intensity of the love you discovered that day, that you experienced.
Attending a family reunion two weeks after you met.
Oh, my.
It is good that you were already, as Dante puts it, resonating together.
Having met your families and your friends yesterday during your rehearsal, and afterwards it's clear where each of you developed the capacity for love.
Your families have such love for you, hold you in such high regard.
They were telling me stories.
I'm sure we'll hear more later.
Good stories, great stories.
You are loved and you have been taught how to love.
This is the basis, the foundation for the love which you so gracefully and generously share with one another today.
How can you build on this beginning?
I'm not familiar with this Iris Murdoch novel, which is the source of the third reading we heard this afternoon.
I wanted to be a good pastor and know what I was talking about.
I purchased the novel from Amazon, but then I found out that it was like 700 pages long.
And tiny, tiny little font.
And it's got a complex plot, which spans more than three decades.
So I attempted, through a variety of sources, to get at the essence of the story.
I discerned that it's a novel of love and friendship.
Its subtitle is, A Story About Love and Friendship and Marxism.
Oh, really, really, love and friendship and Marxism.
It's clear that there's a lot about love and friendship, as expressed among an amazingly wide variety of people
who describe themselves at various times as friends and lovers and spouses.
And I'm not sure which character is speaking in the excerpt that we heard Tim read.
I can imagine either of you saying it to the other and meaning it.
They are beautiful words, and they speak to the love and the passion you have for each other.
I want to explore only one sentence closely.
I want you to take care in your reading of it.
Take care in how you take it to heart.
We are here in this necessary beings like gods.
Now, this is, of course, extravagant language, even florid, and that's great.
I'm all for extravagant love.
The world can use more extravagant love.
But just be clear.
The character says we are like gods, not we are gods.
As you begin your married life together, love one another absolutely.
See in one another the perfect partner, certainly.
And remember that absolute perfection is an impossible ideal.
It's reserved neither for humans nor even for gods, small g, but only for God.
If you expect it of one another, if you expect it of your partner,
then you place a burden beyond bearing upon this precious, utterly human bond
that you affirm together today.
Human nature is the key to appreciating the reading you chose from the Song of Songs.
Until the 1890s, this book in the Bible was the most preached text in Protestant pulpits in America.
It was understood as an allegory of Christ's relationship with the church,
Christ the bridegroom, the church the bride.
Then in the 1890s, critical historical research came into full flower
and they looked at this text and its origins and they decided that the Song of Songs was in fact no allegory.
It was just what it was, just what it is.
This is a love poem, a deeply passionate, intimate hymn in celebration of physical human love.
Cassie and Eric, you both tell me, you desire to have children.
You're both talented artists, you have legitimate aspirations to share your gifts with the world.
Life can speed up in a hurry.
The complexities of day to day existence can increase exponentially as the responsibilities
and opportunities for our vocations increase and as the children we long for become a blessed reality.
Keep listening for the Song of Love.
Keep singing the sacred hymn of passionate love throughout your life together.
It's a beautiful, sustaining song and God is always pleased to hear it.
I think it spices things up a bit up there in the divine realm.
Spice was critical to the life and well-being of the earliest people who followed this odd rabbi named Jesus.
And so it is with love, so it is with marriage.
Take care of it, pay attention to it.
Take care of one another, pay attention to one another.
Stay salty, stay spicy.
Stay true to the essential nature of who you are as partners and as individuals.
Do this and I don't think we need to worry about how your light will shine.
And now Cassie and Eric, I'll ask you to take your place here along with Sarah and Doug.
Eric first.
I hereby take you Cassie to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward.
Enjoy and in sorrow.
In plenty and in want.
In sickness and in health.
To love and to cherish.
As long as we both shall live.
This is my solemn vow.
I Cassie, take you Eric to be my husband.
To have and to hold from this day forward.
Enjoy and in sorrow.
In plenty and in want.
In sickness and in health.
To love and to cherish.
As long as we both shall live.
This is my solemn vow.
Eric, I give you this ring.
As a sign of my love and faithfulness.
Cassie, I give you this ring.
As a sign of my love and faithfulness.
Eric and Cassie, by their promises before God and in the presence of this assembly,
have joined themselves to one another as husband and wife.
Those whom God has joined together, let no one separate.
Thanks be to God.
The Lord God who created our first parents
and established them in marriage,
establish and sustain you,
that you may find delight in each other
and grow in holy love until your life's end.
Amen.
We praise you, O God, for the joy that Eric and Cassie have found in each other,
and we pray that their love and faithfulness
may reflect your gracious love
and enrich our common life.
Gracious and faithful God,
hear our prayer.
Give them gentleness and patience,
affection and understanding,
readiness to trust one another,
and when they hurt each other,
grace to acknowledge their fault
and to give and receive forgiveness.
Gracious and faithful God,
hear our prayer.
Give to Eric and Cassie the gift
of the passage of children
in accordance with your will.
Make their home a haven of peace.
Gracious and faithful God,
hear our prayer.
Strengthen and bless friends and family gathered here,
even as we call to mind those
who are absent from us.
Consol those who mourn the loss of loved ones,
and be present with those
for whom love is a stranger.
Gracious and faithful God,
hear our prayer.
We give thanks to you, merciful God,
especially Tim Slater,
Bob Gowan,
Russell Ira Woolley,
Ethel Woolley,
Bill Slater,
Wayne Woolsey,
Francis Slater,
Keith Slater,
and Marie Yacht.
Strengthen us by the example of the saints
and bring us all to the marriage feast
of the Lamb.
Gracious and faithful God,
hear our prayer.
Hear the prayers of your people
that unity may overcome division,
hope, vanquish despair,
and joy conquer sorrow.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
amen.
Now, I'll invite you to stand,
and as I do that, I'll acknowledge
that I skipped the hymn completely.
Is it okay?
Are you ready to be married?
You're ready to be married.
Sorry to the musicians.
In that case,
the peace of the Lord be with you always.
Peace be with you.
Go in peace.
Serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God, brothers and sisters.
I introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Slater.
You may kiss.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
Go in peace.
All exits look the same.
Three words that became hard to say.
I in love and you.
I in love.
I in love and you.
I in love.
