WEDDING CEREMONY

RACHEL DAVIDA AND NATHANIEL SAUER

October 6, 2001

Best man: Abe Sauer (Nat's brother)
Maid of Honor: Jessica Davida (Rachel's sister)
Groomsmen: Jacob Davida (Rachel's brother)
Eric Schumann (Nat's friend)
Bridesmaids: Sumi Sauer (Nat's sister)
Chris Beimborn (Rachel's friend)
Ushers: Jeff Bond (Nat's friend)
Adam Rivera (Rachel's brother)
Ring Bearer: Nick Rivera (Rachel's brother)
Organist: Sigrun Franzen (Rachel's friend)
Interpreter: Amber Jirschele (Rachel's friend)
Officiant: Jerry Mosser

 

Prelude:

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

Ave Maria – Gounod/Bach

 

Welcome and Greetings:

Officiant-

Good Afternoon.  I welcome you, the families and friends of Rachel Davida and Nathaniel Sauer, to this celebration of their marriage.

 

We come together not to mark the start of a relationship, but to recognize a bond that already exists. This marriage is one expression of the many varieties of love. Love is one, though its expressions are infinite.

 

It is fitting to speak briefly about love. We live in a world of joy and fear, and search for meaning and strength in the seeming disorder. We discover the truest guideline to our quest when we realize love in all its magnitudes. Love is the eternal force of life. Love is the force that allows us to face fear and uncertainty with courage.

 

But, we must “be of love a little more careful than of anything.”

 

For the giving of oneself in love is difficult, for we must learn to give of our love without total submission of ourselves. Therefore, in our giving, we give our joy, our sadness, our interest, our understanding, our knowledge of all expressions that make up life. But in this giving, we must remember to preserve our integrity, our individuality. This is the challenge of love within marriage.

 

Blessed be you who come here in dedication to all that is loving, good, and sacred. 

We bless you and welcome you in joy.

 

May all that is noble and true in the universe inspire Rachel and Nathaniel’s life together and help bring peace to all humankind.

 

Processional:

Prince of Denmark’s March

 

Lighting of Family Candles:

Air- Bach

 

Opening Reading:

Sheila Ross-

The Master Speed by Robert Frost

 

No Speed of wind or water rushing by

But you have speed far greater

You can climb back up a stream of radiance to the sky

And back through history up the stream of time

 

And you are given this swiftness not for haste

Nor chiefly that you may go where you will

But in the rush of everything to waste

That you may have the power of standing still, off any still or moving thing you say

 

Two such as you with such a master speed

Cannot be parted nor be swept away from one another

Once you are agreed that life is only life forevermore

Together, wing to wing, oar to oar

 

Minister’s Homily:

Officiant-

It is one of life’s finest experiences when the connection between two people grows into a permanent bond of love and leads them to become life partners. That is why we celebrate your marriage today, Rachel and Nathaniel.  We celebrate your decision to join your lives permanently together.  And that you have found each other and find happiness and fulfillment in each other’s company.

 

In addition to celebration, I encourage you to think of this ceremony as a transition, a jumping off point – the beginning of a new period of growth and development for you.

 

For neither love nor marriage is a static condition.  The nature of your love for each other and your marriage relationship will change over time.  Enduring marriage relationships require flexibility and a mutual commitment to an ongoing process of adjustment and adaptation.  In fact, if your marriage is to remain vital and stimulating you must encourage each other to change and grow as your life together and in the larger world changes you.

 

One way to think about the nature of a loving marriage relationship is that it requires giving up one’s self-centeredness and becoming centered in the partnership, becoming part of a larger whole.  This is not to say that you have to give up your individuality.  But that your individual identities and aspirations are now linked in a larger, shared identity and set of aspirations.  The success of your marriage relationship will depend on how well you merge your two loves into one.  Your love for Rachel, and your love for Nathaniel, merged into a mutual love for what you have – and are – together.

 

I like what writer John Taylor had to say about marriage:

 

“Journey” is about as good an image as marriage evokes, and each partner is a companion on the way.  There are times when you walk hand-in-hand, and times when you are barely within sight of one another. . . .  There are moments of glory on the crest of mountains when life is light and as clear as the air; there are valleys so dark and deep you are certain no escape is possible.

 

Good marriages exist in all occasions, but what makes them worthy are those times when you see something on the journey which is so wonderful that you call out, “Look, Look!”  And then, with your companion by your side, you recognize more beauty together than you could have possibly seen alone.

 

Rachel and Nathaniel, it has been a pleasure to get to know you, and I am honored to be a part of your wedding ceremony.  My best wishes go with you as you set out on your married life together.

 

May your love and marriage grow and mature and bring you more happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment with each passing year.

 

Affirmation of Family and Friends:

Officiant-

Will all guests please rise?

 

Rachel and Nathaniel are happy that so many of you who mean so much to them are here to celebrate this day.  You occupy an important place in this couple’s lives.  You have sustained them in the past with your love, your thoughts and prayers, and now that their life is entering a new phase, your role will be different, but not diminished.  Your role here is not a passive one; you are encouraged not only to rejoice and honor them both on this, their wedding day, but also to continue to be a sustaining community for them.  We ask you to remain steadfast, reaching out to them in times of trouble, helping them to celebrate their achievements and their joys.  Wherever your own destiny may carry you, we ask that you will continue to include them in your lives.  If you are willing to affirm this, please say “We will”. 

 

Wine and Affirmation of Intention:

Officiant-

Rachel and Nathaniel, the decision to join your lives in marriage requires that you share your lives in hope and trust, that you stand together through all of the challenging and painful experiences of life, as well as share life’s greatest joys and sweetest pleasures.  Rachel, is it true that you come of your own free will and accord?

 

Rachel-

Yes, with free and unconstrained soul, as freely as God has given me life,

I have come here to join my life with Nat’s. 

 

Officiant-

Whose blessings accompany you?

 

Guests-

She is accompanied by the blessings of her family and friends.

 

Officiant-

Nathaniel, is it true that you come here of your own free will and accord?

 

Nat-

Yes, with free and unconstrained soul, I have come here to join my life with Rachel’s.

 

Officiant-

Whose blessings accompany you?

 

Guests-

He is accompanied by the blessings of his family and friends.

 

Officiant-

The cup of wine is symbolic of life.  As you share the cup of wine, you undertake to share what the future may bring.  All the sweetness life's cup may hold for you should be sweeter because you drink it together; whatever drops of bitterness it may contain should be less bitter because you share them.

 

Musical Interlude:

 

Exchange of Vows/Rings:

Nat-

I take you Rachel Davida, my true friend, to be my beloved wife.

Since the day I first saw you sitting on the wall smiling, you have given me happiness.

I promise to keep you smiling for the rest of my life.

 

I shall give you strength in your times of sorrow

I shall give you humor to uplift your heart and inspiration to uplift your soul

I shall give you honesty and trust to build our marriage

and I shall give you love to last a lifetime

 

I vow to build a home that is loving and compassionate to all

I vow to strive for harmony with a quiet and gentle spirit

I vow to love you for who you are, through sickness and health, richer, poorer, up, down, left or right.

 

Wherever life takes us,

be it under a northern starry sky

high atop a mandarin mountain

in a city that never sleeps

or just on a long Sunday morning,

you will forever be at home in my arms and in my heart. i love you.

 

Rachel-

Nat,

You were always my friend, and now, so much more.

You are beautiful to me, in so many ways,

And I wish you, above all others, to be my partner in life.

Whatever lies ahead, we will face it together.

I will care for you in sickness and in health, and cherish your love.

I will listen to  your joys and sorrows with an open mind and open heart.

I promise to express my thoughts and emotions to you.

I will respect your hopes and aspirations, and encourage your dreams.

I promise not to give up quickly and to allow for the effects of change and time.

I will bring humor and appreciation into our relationship to keep it healthy and fun.

I promise to love you.

You are my beloved and my friend.

I give you all that I am, and all I am to become.

 

 

Officiant-

Love freely given has no beginning and no end.  These rings symbolize the never-ending circle of love.  May they remind you always of the vows you have taken this day and of God’s love, which is given abundantly to us all.

 

Reading 2:

Jess Perry-

Apache blessing:

 

Now we feel no rain,

for each of us will be shelter to the other.

Now we feel no cold,

for each of us will be warmth to the other.

Now there is no loneliness,

for each of us will be a companion to the other.

We are two bodies,

but there is one life before us and one home.

When evening falls,

I'll look up and there you will be.

I'll take your hand;

you'll take mine and we'll turn together

To look at the road we traveled to reach this-

- the hour of our happiness.

It stretches behind us,

even as the future lies ahead.

A long and winding road,

whose every turn means discovery.

Old hopes, new laughter,

shared fears.

The adventure has just begun.

 

Reading 3:

Meg Hefty-

Autumn by Garrison Keillor

 

Here on an autumn night in the sweet orchard smell,

Sitting in a pile of leaves under the starry sky,

Oh what stories we could tell

With this starlight to tell them by.

 

October night, and you, and paradise,

So lovely and so full of grace,

Above your head, the universe has hung its lights,

And I reach out my hand to touch your face.

 

I believe in impulse, in all that is green,

Believe in the foolish vision that comes true,

Believe that all that is essential is unseen,

And for this lifetime I believe in you.

 

All of the lovers and the love they made:

Nothing that was between them was a mistake.

All that we did for love's sake,

Is not wasted and will never fade.

 

All who have loved shall be forever young

And walk in grandeur on a cool fall night

Along the avenue,

They live in every song that is ever sung,

In every painting of pure light,

In every pas de deux.

 

Oh love that shines in every star

And love reflected off the silver sea.

Love, a gift to all who would try,

And yet, now held by you and me.

 

Pronouncement:

Officiant-

Rachel and Nathaniel, you have chosen to walk life’s journey together.  In the presence of these witnesses you have promised one another your love and trust.  It is therefore my joy and privilege to pronounce you husband and wife.

 

Reading 4:

Christopher Heuer

Poem by Orson Scott Card

 

I once heard a tale of a man

who split himself in two.

The one part never changed at all;

the other grew and grew.

The changeless part was always true,

The growing part was always new,

And I wondered, when the tale was through,

Which part was me, and which was you.

 

Unity Candle:

Officiant-

Rachel and Nathaniel, as you, committed companions, step out upon life’s road, you will not always be able to anticipate where that road will take you.  The Unity Candle is a symbol of the warmth of your love and the freedom of your spirits.  In love and in freedom, may you find your way together through all the joys and challenges you encounter upon your journey.

 

Blessing:

Officiant-

May both of you, honoring your way with this ceremony, keep these promises which you have made to each other.  May you be a blessing and a comfort to each other, sharer's of each other's joys, consolers of each others' sorrows, helpers to each other in the challenges of life.

 

May you encourage each other in whatever you set out to achieve.  May both of you, trusting each other, trust life and not be afraid.  May you not only express and accept affection between yourselves, but also reach out with love to all people.  We hope that the inspiration of this hour will not be forgotten.  May you love one another forever.

 

Embrace and Kiss:

I invite you to seal your marriage with an embrace and kiss.

 

Presentation:

Officiant-

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to introduce to you for the first time as husband and wife, with a new name, Nathaniel and Rachel Davauer

 

Recessional:

Widor Toccata from Symphony #5

 

Postlude/Receiving Line: