Steinkamp / Menke Wedding - June 30, 2018

Below please find the manuscript from the wedding that I performed back on June 30th at the Union Church. Andrew and Miranda are a very sweet young couple and I was very privileged to perform the ceremony for them, I am convinced that they will have a very long and loving union.  May God bless them both.

Steinkamp/Menke Wedding – June 30, 2018

Entrance:
All Please Rise!

Welcome: 
A wedding is a celebration of love. Andrew and Miranda are most grateful for your presence on this day when they pledge their lifelong love to each other. Your very presence symbolizes your love for them. The love felt in this place flows from the very heart of God. The greatest love story ever told is found in these simple words. “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). The deepest love known to man is the love of God. We love because He first loved us. 

Please be seated.

Giving Away of the Bride:
May the Lord bless you both... as from this day forward you seek to carry out these scriptural ideals of your marriage.

In light of the serious approach that the Scriptures take toward marriage, it should be entered into with sobriety and reverence.  If anyone gathered can show just cause why this couple should not be joined together, let them speak now or else, hereafter and forevermore, hold their peace.

Who gives this woman to be married to this man?

Bride's Parents rise and respond: We do...

Miranda and Andrew you have come to me signifying your desire to be joined together in holy matrimony. Being reassured that no grounds exist to hinder this union, may we now join together in prayer as we ask God’s blessing upon this sacred ceremony.

Prayer:
Our Heavenly Father, we come, our hearts filled with thanksgiving, for the divine provision that You have made for us in Your original insights and pronouncement that it is not good for man to be alone. Rather, You have made us to find our highest fulfillment together in You. 
We thank You for the heritage represented here as Andrew Leonard Steinkamp and Miranda Marie Menke stand together in this hour. We thank You for every act of care, nurture, sacrifice, provision, and love that has been shown to them by those who have loved them and nurtured them even to this hour. But now we recognize, Father, that something new is about to happen. As You have instructed, it is time for them to leave their first loyalty to other families... and cleave to each other so that from this day forward... it will be one for the other, sealed by Your blessing, spirit, and love that will be the manifest reality of their life together. 

We pray that these vows being exchanged, these tokens of love that are given one to the other, might ever remain sacred and may we be reminded that beyond these visible witnesses, these words spoken are witnessed by heaven itself... and sealed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

Dear Father, we pray for Your blessing upon this young couple and the union that is created here today.  We ask for Your blessing in the name of Jesus who is the Christ. May this new union serve to meet Your divine purpose through the lives of Andrew and Miranda.  Amen. 

Introduction and Message:


Prayer:
Let us pray:
Our Father, we thank You for having instituted divine matrimony and having established the family that provides us with human relationships that could not otherwise be experienced. It is our prayer at this moment that Your presence and power shall rest upon this couple, to keep them in times of difficulty, to sustain them in moments of abundance as well as in the moments of poverty. I pray You shall write these vows indelibly upon their hearts that they may walk with You and with each other and their love may grow for each other in proportion as their love grows in You. In Jesus’ holy name we pray, Amen. 

Special Music:
Shannon Hobbs – “I Can't Help Falling In Love”

Vows:
Miranda and Andrew, if you are ready to make these vows to God and to each other, please turn toward one another, and join hands. 

Andrew, would you please repeat these words after me if they are the desire of your heart.

I, Andrew, take thee, Miranda, 
to be my wedded wife, 
to have and to hold from this day forward, 
for better, for worse, 
for richer, for poorer, 
in sickness and in health, 
to love, and to cherish till death do us part; 
and to you, I pledge my eternal faithfulness. 

Miranda, would you please repeat these words after me if they are the desire of your heart.

I Miranda, take thee, Andrew, 
to be my wedded husband, 
to have and to hold from this day forward, 
for better, for worse, 
for richer, for poorer, 
in sickness and in health, 
to love, to cherish, 
and to obey till death do us part; 
and to you, I pledge my eternal faithfulness. 

The Giving of the Rings:
May I now have the rings... may the Lord's blessing be upon these emblems of your faith and love for one another.

The giving and receiving of wedding rings is rich with spiritual lessons for marriage. They speak of acceptance, trust, purity, and love. The beauty of their material and the uniqueness of their form point to the ideal marital state.
Do you Andrew, give this ring to Miranda as a token of your love for her and an emblem of her love for you?
Response: I do.
Will you, Miranda, take this ring as a token of Andrew's love for you and will you wear it as a symbol of your love for him?
Response: I Will.

Do you Miranda, give this ring to Andrew as a token of your love for him and an emblem of his love for you?
Response: I do.
Will you, Andrew, take this ring as a token of Miranda's love for you and will you wear it as a symbol of your love for her?
Response: I Will.

Unity Tree and signing of the Wedding Certificate:
Andrew and Miranda will now take part in a Tree Planting Ceremony, to symbolize the roots of their relationship, and the continued growth of their love, as they become each other’s family today. This ceremony signifies that they are no longer two, but they are one in our Lord Jesus Christ, having left their fathers and mothers to establish their own family under God. Love is the essence of human experience and emotion. It is the root of all and everything we, as humans, do. Love richens our experience and fills our lives with meaning. It gives us a firm base from which to grow, to learn, and change. Let your relationship and your love for each other be like this tree you plant today. Let it grow tall and strong. Let it stand tall during the harsh winds and rains and storms, and come through unscathed. Like a tree, your marriage must be resilient. It must weather the challenges of daily life and the passage of time. And just like the tree you are planting, marriage requires constant nurturing and nourishment.  As they provide the sun, soil, and water for this tree, they will provide the encouragement, trust, and love needed on a daily basis to consciously nurture and nourish their connection to each other. 

Then the couple along with their attendants shall sign the Wedding Certificate, officially signifying and proclaiming their marriage in the eyes of the State of Iowa.

Blessing By The Marriage Party:
It is the Wedding Couple's desire that I ask the Wedding Attendants along with the Parents of the Bride & Groom, to please come forward and join hands in a circle around Miranda and Andrew as you give your blessing to them and they give their blessing to each of you.  Let us please pray:
Dear Heavenly Father, each of these people have been such an important part of Andrew and Miranda's lives, and Andrew and Miranda have been such an important part of each of their lives.  Father, we thank You for this blessing of friends and family.  We ask that You place your hand of blessing upon each of them and that they may, in turn, continue to be a blessing to each other from this day forward.  We ask that you bless all those gathered here today in this Sanctuary... and we thank you for all that they have been to Miranda and Andrew and for all that they will continue to be.

Blessed Savior, we pray that the love that those gathered here have towards Miranda and Andrew might continue forth from this day until the end of this earthly time.  May each of those gathered bless this loving couple, and may they each strive to support them in their love and devotion to each other as well as their love for You oh Lord.

These prayers we earnestly and sincerely lift up to You today, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  Amen.

Pronouncement:
Andrew and Miranda, by the authority given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ as a minister of His flock, and by the authority invested in me as a licensed minister of the gospel, and in accordance with the laws of the State of Iowa, I now pronounce you husband and wife...  
Andrew, you may now kiss your bride. 

Benediction:
Father, we ask your blessings on this young couple as they build a life together. May it be a life of mutual respect, encouraging each other to be the best they can be for your sake. And now may the grace, mercy, and peace of God, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit rest on them and on each of us now and forevermore. Amen. 

Presentation:
To all of you gathered here today, it is now my pleasure to be the first to introduce to you... Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Steinkamp.