Jennifer M Rodrigues

Invocation

Family, thank you for being here to witness, celebrate and support the marriage covenant between David Anthony Lara and Jessica Arellanes Saguillan. It’s been more than four years that this couple has been together and today we are thrilled that they will vow a lifetime together. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Basic Tenets

Companionship is one of the most basic essential needs of humanity, next to air, food, water, and warmth. Companionship is necessary for one to thrive. People may have a recollection within the creation story that God said it was not good for man to be alone.

Regarding companionship, In Ecclesiastes the Bible also shares with us that 2 are better than 1 because they have a good reward for their labor. Companionship is deemed as labor, work. This basic and essential need that God said is not good to be without requires work. So, no matter who you are, just being each other’s company is going to take work.

Thankfully, this work also receives a reward, an advantage. If one falls, the other lifts them up. A true helpmate situation.

Godly Marriage

What makes marriage different from just living together? In Ephesians 5 Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loves the church. Jesus was without fault, he didn’t do anything wrong yet he took the blame and he took the blame willingly. He was also tempted but he resisted and did not sin holding tightly to the vision of saving the church’s soul. He went to the Father and prayed over his church. Jesus was healing and blessing people even while he was being hunted. He was forgiving the church even while he was being beaten. He sacrificed even unto the death so the church might be saved. David, this is the call over your life.

As such, wives, submit to your own husbands. I know we women cringe at the word submit. But consider what we have just heard about the husband we are called to submit to. A husband who loves his wife as Christ does is one we can trust our vulnerability to. Wives can trust an Ephesians 5 husband to hold to the vision for your shared lives and best outcomes.

The Choice - I Choose You

So how important it is choosing a companion. Amen?

God didn’t just say that it was not good for man to be alone, but that God would provide a helper who was just right for Adam, a suitable helper. Today David and Jessica are choosing each other under God as that suitable helper.

There was a vetting process that led us to today. Examining one another during life’s circumstances, checking for skills, values, and morality. And in this vetting process that would lead us to today, we likely have kept score in some ways in order to choose wisely. Praise God.

In love, we keep no record of wrongs. On this day, in unifying as one, we lay our score cards and other vetting tools down because we are decided and we have chosen.

So it’s an abundance of grace, and mercy and forgiveness, the fruits of the spirit that we pray for over this Union and this house, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Ritual of a Father Walking his Daughter Down the Aisle

The aisle is a pathway symbolic of a journey. A journey that a father has long been on with his daughter arm-in-arm. A father doesn’t give away his daughter and that’s why we didn’t ask. He places his beloved daughter into your care. He entrusts you with her life.

The Family

Often when people get married, they’re focused on the one they love only to learn later that person comes with family. The family here today, we are your community, your support, and your help. With our presence here today, we also make vows of our own to hold your marriage up in high regard. At times to provide good counsel, at other times to simply listen. Above all, we are here to be a blessing in your lives and to go to God on your behalf.

Prayer

Both confessing to be children of God, let us pray.

Father in the name of Jesus, Thank you for this blessing before us. Thank you for this couple who would seek to put you first. Please lead them and guide them in the way that they should go. Please cover and protect them in this life together as husband and wife, as mother and father, one body in Christ.

Lord we praise you for the offer to save our souls, to that we have said and continue to say yes. Let the marriage bond between David and Jessica be unbroken. Let the angels that you have encamped around them here in this room be blessed. Let the needs of each soul receive what heals them and renders them whole and complete. Jesus you said that if any person lack, that we could come to you. You said that in your house were there many mansions, that you prepared a place for each of us, and that you would not have said so if it were not so. Bless your people. Reigning on both the righteous and unrighteous, you are God.

Jesus we are asking that David and Jessica live life as you said, abundantly so. We ask that there be a fortress around their marriage. We ask that they be protected against the evil man and evil woman, that their covenant be honored and honorable. Now we pray Lord Jesus, for everything that this marriage will need: mercy, grace, forgiveness, courageousness, strength, patience, kindness, sweetness. All the things that you said are the fruit of your spirit so we’re asking for the filling of your spirit into this marriage. These souls, this family. That each individual would not take advantage of that, but have a spirit of gratitude about their partner embodying the beatitudes of Christ. We pray that their marriage is a hiding place, a safe place of respite, comfort, warmth, companionship, joy, and love. And we pray this over each marriage represented in this place today who would pray in agreement. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

The Rings and Vows

David to Jessica:

I choose you.

Willingly.

I vow to keep hold of the vision

of a well spent lifetime together.

You and Julie are the pride of my life.

How well you two do in this life will be in part

a reflection of how well I do

in my vows to love and lead you,

to regard you and your outcomes,

and in creating and holding safe spaces

for our family so we all can grow and thrive.

I vow to work toward being the best version of myself

for all of us.

I vow you my faithfulness and my heart.

I accept the call over my life as your husband.

You are the one my soul loves.

Jessica to David:

I choose you.

Willingly.

I vow also to a well spent lifetime with you.

I vow to be the helpmate you need

to carry out our shared success.

How well you do in this life will be in part

a reflection of how well I keep you lifted up.

You and Julie are as the air in my lungs.

I vow to love you,

support you,

and be the best version of myself

for all of us,

also creating and holding safe spaces

for our family to grow and thrive.

I vow to you my faithfulness and my heart.

I accept the call over my life as your wife.

You are the one my soul loves.

The Pronouncement

Having bore witness to your vows in the presence of your family, by the power vested in me by God in the name of Jesus, ordained through American Marriage Ministries, In the State of CA, the county of Alameda, the city of Oakland on Monday, March 13, 2023, I now pronounce you husband and wife. David you may kiss your bride.