Music: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
We gather in this wonderful earth space, the holy ground of our native ancestors. Let us call upon all the beauty and energy of this place to bless the marriage of Michael and Christine. Situated on the Olympic Peninsula, we welcome the spirit of water, air, earth and fire; we welcome the creatures of the sea, the earth and skies and ask that they bless and gift this marriage.
To strengthen and support this marriage commitment, we welcome the spirit of the earth with its solid, nurturing and generative energy. May we welcome the ebb and flow, the peace and force of the great waters. Let’s welcome the spirit of the unexpected that comes in the gentle and wild winds of life; we welcome and celebrate the fire of love with its passion for right relationship. Finally, we welcome and acknowledge the Great Spirit of Love that abides within Michael and Christine’s relationship.
When two people come together in love, there is the festive and the solemn, the magic and mystery. There is beauty and struggle. And in the words of Christine and Michael, there is the comfortableness and the silliness of being together; there is freedom and trust in being known. When all this is infused with a spirit of joyful love, there is great hope in where this journey of love will take them
Our presence here is an opportunity for all of us to renew our own relational commitments, but more importantly, our presence here is that of encouragement, celebration and support of the commitment that Michael and Christine will publicly proclaim in a few moments. They are who they are because of the love, friendship, life and support that many special people have offered them along the journey of their lives. They have invited each of you, their community of loved ones and they want your sustained support. So let’s celebrate with them this day, stand by them in difficult times and support them in friendship all days. Our hope is that the great energies of the universe unite your hearts today and everyday and fill you with all you need in your marriage.
Reading – For “CWB" by Elizabeth Bishop --RP
I
Let us live in a lull of the long winter winds
Where the shy, silver-antlered reindeer go
On dainty hoofs with their white rabbit friends
Amidst the delicate flowering snow.
All of our thoughts will be fairer than doves.
We will live upon wedding-cake frosted with sleet.
We will build us a house from two red tablecloths,
And wear scarlet mittens on both hands and feet.
II
Let us live in the land of the whispering trees,
Alder and aspen and poplar and birch,
Singing our prayers in a pale, sea-green breeze,
With star-flower rosaries and moss banks for church.
All of our dreams will be clearer than glass.
Clad in the water or sun, as you wish,
We will watch the white feet of the young morning pass
And dine upon honey and small shiny fish.
III
Let us live where the twilight lives after the dark,
In the deep, drowsy blue, let us make us a home.
Let us meet in the cool evening grass, with a stork
And a whistle of willow, played by a gnome.
Half-asleep, half-awake, we shall hear, we shall know
the soft "Miserere" the wood-swallow tolls.
We will wander away where wild raspberries grow
And eat them for tea from two lily-white bowls.
To Love is Not to Possess by James Kavanaugh --CT
To love is not to possess,
to own or imprison,
nor to lose one's self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
to walk alone and together,
to find a laughing freedom
that lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
to be who we really are
no longer clinging in childish dependency
nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one's self
and perfectly joined in permanent commitment
to another--and to one's inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
receding and returning gently or passionately,
or moving lovingly like the tide
in the moon's own predictable harmony.
Because finally, despite a child's scars
or an adult's deepest wounds,
they are openly free to be
who they really are--and always secretly were,
in the very core of their being
where true and lasting love can alone abide.
Declaration of Consent and Community Pledge of Support --Shirley
Christine and Michael, in the presence of the Great Source of Love and this circle of friends, I invite you to affirm your willingness to enter this marriage freely and to share all the joys and sorrows in this amazing journey you are on. Are you willing and ready to love each other as husband and wife as long as you both shall live?
(Michael and Christine respond): Yes, I am.
All respond: We will
Christine: Michael, from my heart I promise
To be present,
To listen to what you say and what you leave unsaid with an open heart.
To speak my truth,
To be faithful to you throughout all of life’s uncertainties,
To be open to you as you continue growing,
To cherish playfulness and laughter,
To join you in exploring all that is sacred.
To be present,
To listen to what you say and what you leave unsaid with an open heart.
To speak my truth,
To be faithful to you throughout all of life’s uncertainties,
To be open to you as you continue growing,
To cherish playfulness and laughter,
To join you in exploring all that is sacred.
The ring is a symbol of the unbroken circle of love.
Love that is freely given has no beginning and no end.
May these rings be a symbol of the endless love into which you enter as husband and wife for the rest of your lives.
Michael: Christine, I give you this ring as a sign of my love.
Christine: Michael, I give you this ring as a sign of my love.
I love you not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.
That you bring out;
I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart
And passing over all the foolish, weak things
That you can't help dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out Into the light
All the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.
I love you because you are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life not a tavern, but a temple.
Out of the works of my every day
Not a reproach but a song.
I love you because you have done
More than any creed could have done to make me good.
And more than any fate could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it without a touch,
Without a word, without a sign.
You have done it by being yourself.
Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.
Closing Blessing Chinook Marriage Blessing --Fritz Hull (family and friends)
We call upon all that we hold most sacred to
Bless this marriage
We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life, and together we ask that it
Bless this marriage
We call upon the mountains, the green mountains and the white, and the high valleys and meadows filled with wild flowers, the snows that never melt, the summits of intense silence, and we ask that they
Bless this marriage
We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon, that flow in our rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens and fields, that fill our ponds and pools, and we ask that they
Bless this marriage
We call upon the forest, the great trees reaching to the sky with earth in their roots and heaven in their branches, the fir and the pine, the cedar and the maple, and we ask them to
Bless this marriage
We call upon the land which grows our food, the nurturing soil, the fertile fields, the abundant gardens and orchards, and we ask that they
Bless this marriage
We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the seas, our brothers and sisters the wolves and deer, the eagle and dove, the great whales and the dolphin, the beautiful Orca and salmon who share our Northwest home and we ask them to
Bless this marriage
We call upon the moon and the stars and the sun, who govern the rhythms and seasons of our lives and remind us that we are part of a great and wondrous universe, and we ask them to
Bless this marriage
We call upon all those who have lived on this earth, our ancestors and our friends, who dreamed the best for future generations, and upon whose lives our lives are built, and with thanksgiving, we call upon them to
Bless this marriage
We call upon the family and friends and all those who live and cherish and sustain this couple, and ask that together we
Bless this marriage
And lastly, we call upon the power and presence of the God of love, on that which asks us to become greater than ourselves so that the one may become two and the two may become one, and all together we
Bless this marriage!
Declaration of Marriage --Shirley
In the presence of the God of Love and this circle of your family and friends, you have declared your love for one another and have made solemn vows to each other. You have confirmed your promises by the joining of hands and by the giving and receiving of rings. With enthusiasm, I now proclaim Christine and Michael as wife and husband. Time to kiss!
