Parish of Wigston Magna
All Saints and St Wistan

Wedding
of
Jill Hill and Jack Crown
31st February 2006

The Marriage Service
¶ Pastoral Introduction
This may be read by those present before the service begins.
A wedding is one of life’s great moments, a time of solemn commitment as well as good wishes, feasting and joy. St John tells us how Jesus shared in such an occasion at Cana, and gave there a sign of new beginnings as he turned water into wine.
Marriage is intended by God to be a creative relationship, as his blessing enables husband and wife to love and support each other in good times and in bad, and to share in the care and upbringing of children. For Christians, marriage is also an invitation to share life together in the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is based upon a solemn, public and life-long covenant between a man and a woman, declared and celebrated in the presence of God and before witnesses.
On this their wedding day the bride and bridegroom face each other, make their promises and receive God’s blessing. You are witnesses of the marriage, and express your support by your presence and your prayers. Your support does not end today: the couple will value continued encouragement in the days and years ahead of them.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13.4-7
The Marriage Service
Arrival of the Bride
Die Walkure—Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
¶ Introduction
The Welcome
The minister welcomes the people using these or other appropriate words
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
All and also with you.
This sentence may be used
God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.
1 John 4.16
This prayer may be said
All God of wonder and of joy: grace comes from you, and you alone are the source
of life and love. Without you, we cannot please you; without your love,
our deeds are worth nothing. Send your Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, that we may worship you now with thankful hearts and serve you always
with willing minds; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways! Reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find, in deeper reverence praise. In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word _ rise up and follow thee. O Sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above, where Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity, interpreted by love! Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace. Breathe through the heats of our desires thy coolness and thy balm; let sense be dumb let flesh retire; speak through the earthquake wind and fire, O still small voice of calm.
Readings
2 Samuel 1.17,23-27
Sermon
¶ The Marriage
Hymn
Fight the good fight with all thy might, Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right; lay hold on life, and it shall be _ thy joy and crown eternally. Run the straight race through God’s good grace, lift up thine eyes, and seek his face; life with its way before us lies, Christ is the path, and Christ the prize. Cast care aside, upon thy guide lean, and his mercy will provide; lean, and the trusting soul shall prove Christ is its life, and Christ its love. Faint not nor fear, his arms are near, he changeth not, and thou art dear; only believe, and thou shalt see that Christ is all in all to thee.
Registration of the Marriage
Hymn
Onward, Christian soldiers! marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ the royal Master leads against the foe; forward into battle, see, his banners go! Onward, Christian soldiers! marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise. Like a mighty army moves the Church of God; brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod: we are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity. Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the Church of Jesus constant will remain: gates of hell can never ’gainst that Church prevail; we have Christ’s own promise, and that cannot fail. Onward, then, ye people, join our happy throng, blend with ours your voices in the triumph song: glory, laud, and honour unto Christ the King, this through countless ages men and angels sing.
Prayers
Lord of life and love:
All hear our prayer.
The prayers conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
All Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn
Through the night of doubt and sorrow onward goes the pilgrim band, singing songs of expectation, marching to the promised land. Clear before us through the darkness gleams and burns the guiding light; brother clasps the hand of brother, stepping fearless through the night. One the light of God’s own presence o’er his ransomed people shed, chasing far the gloom and terror, brightening all the path we tread: One the object of our journey, one the faith which never tires, one the earnest looking forward, one the hope our God inspires: One the strain that lips of thousands lift as from the heart of one: one the conflict, one the peril, one the march in God begun: one the gladness of rejoicing on the far eternal shore, where the one almighty Father reigns in love for evermore. Onward, therefore, pilgrim brothers, onward with the cross our aid; bear its shame, and fight its battle, till we rest beneath its shade. Soon shall come the great awaking, soon the rending of the tomb; then the scattering of all shadows, and the end of toil and gloom.
The Dismissal
Recessional
The Liberty Bell—John Philip Sousa
Copyright acknowledgement (where not already indicated above):
Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops' Council 2000
Hymns reproduced under CCLI Licence Number: 510489