Stephen Wayne Clemensen

Malachi and Emilie Barn Wedding

- PROCESSION

Who gives this bride on her wedding day?

You may all be seated.

- INVOCATION

Good Afternoon. Thank you all for being here today... Today is a day of celebration! It’s a day of happiness. It's a day of love. We are gathered here today in the sight of God, and the presence of friends and loved ones, to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments. We are here to give recognition to the beauty of love that is shared between Malachi and Emilie as they begin their family and join together in holy matrimony. Marriage is a contract not to be entered lightly but thoughtfully and seriously and with a deep realization of the obligations and responsibilities. Marriage is the moment where your hearts and souls are joined together for eternity.

- PRAYER

Let's start today with a prayer. Please bow your head.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We humbly bow before you and thank you for all you have done for Malachi and Emilie. And, for every day that led them to this joyous occasion. You have blessed them with this unique bond and a gift of this special love that is like no other. We ask that you shine on them today, as they take their vows, unite their lives, and become one. We pray to you in Jesus’s name – Amen

- SERMON

Joining of two hearts as husband and wife is a commitment like no other. It offers opportunities for sharing and for growth that no other human relationship can equal. A husband and wife are each other’s best friends, confidants, lovers, teachers, listeners, and critics. The bond between a husband and wife deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller, and commitments are stronger. Marriage also encourages new life and new experiences and finds new ways of expressing love through the ups and downs of life.

Marriage also provides an opportunity for us to live out the beautiful picture of love between Christ and His church. When God gave the woman to the man in the Garden of Eden, the words were pronounced, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).

God knew your needs when he brought the two of you together. He knew exactly what you needed to make you complete. And now, He wants you to commit yourselves to each other. Through the ages, man has tried to define “love.” Poems, songs, and books all have been written to describe this four-letter word. But the best description I have found comes from God Himself, after all, He is the author of love. In His Word in First Corinthians, Chapter 13. It describes the kind of love that must characterize your lives if you are to live in joy, harmony, and honor with each other, also before God and your fellow man.

I Corinthians 13:4-8a – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

I would like to remind those of you in attendance today that love Malachi and Emilie of your role in their marriage as well. Those of us who follow Jesus with Malachi and Emilie have a responsibility to encourage them to be living pictures of Jesus. We do this by being mindful of the way that we conduct ourselves toward our spouses—so that Malachi and Emilie see in us a living picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. We also do this by being mindful of the way that we speak about marriage in their presence. What kind of expectations do your words about marriage create? And finally, we do this by being mindful of the way that they live out this high calling of depicting to the world the relationship between Jesus Christ and His pure bride. John Piper was right when he wrote, “The reason there is so much misery in marriage is not that husbands and wives seek their own pleasure, but that they do not seek it in the pleasure of their spouses.”

Malachi, I believe you are saying to all of us today that you are committing yourself to this woman only, moving toward her in a more open and intimate way, giving yourself to care for her, and promising to love her as she needs to be loved.

And Emilie, I believe you are saying to us that you are committing yourself to this man only, moving toward him with increasing openness, tenderness, and respect, giving yourself to him, and trusting him as the head of your home, and, through him, listening to God’s plan for your life together.

- EXCHANGE OF VOWS

Please take each other’s hands and face one another.

Malachi, please repeat after me:

I, Malachi, take you, Emilie, to be my wedded wife. I promise to stand by your side through good and bad times, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. I vow to stay true to you and love you unconditionally for the rest of my days.

Emilie, please repeat after me:

I, Emilie, take you, Malachi, to be my wedded husband. I promise to stand by your side through good and bad times, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. I vow to stay true to you and love you unconditionally for the rest of my days.

- RING EXCHANGE

And now, may we have the rings?

These are the rings that Malachi and Emilie will wear for the rest of their lives and will express the love that they have for one another. Please take a moment and send your prayers, your thoughts and your love to these rings, so as Malachi and Emilie wear them, they will also carry and remember your love and support for them as well.

Malachi, will you please place this ring on Emilie's left ring finger and repeat after me:

I, Malachi, give you, Emilie, this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you.

Emilie, will you please place this ring on Malachi's left ring finger and repeat after me:

I, Emilie, give you, Malachi, this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you.

- DECLARATION OF INTENT

Do you Malachi, take Emilie to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto her for as long as you both shall live? - I Do

Do you Emilie, take Malachi to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto him for as long as you both shall live? - I Do

- CANDLE LIGHTING

And now Malachi and Emilie have also chosen to use the lighting of a unity candle to symbolize their two lives coming together and becoming one. Malachi and Emilie, the blending of your lives as husband and wife is symbolized through the lighting of these individual candles. Malachi and Emilie, each candle represents you and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be. Emilie as you light your candle, your flame will bring your likes, your heritage, and your heart to this union. Malachi as you light your candle, your flame will bring your likes, your heritage and your heart to this union. As two the flames come together they will make one flame just your lives are coming together and will no longer be separated. These two flames are now one just as you both are now becoming one, as husband and wife.

-PRONOUNCEMENT

Malachi and Emilie as you wear these rings may they remind you that your love, like the sun, warms all that it touches, like the moon, brightens up the night, like the eye, is a gateway to your heart.

And may it also remind you of your love, like the arms that embrace you, makes everything right with the world.

We, your family and friends, wish for you the very best! We wish that your lives together be filled with joy, and that love surrounds you always.

May the Lord bless you with many happy years together, so that you may enjoy the rewards of a good, long, and healthy life.

And now in the presence of your family and friends, and before God, with the power vested in me through the state of Florida; I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may now kiss your bride!