Wedding Manuscript - Corey & Tabitha Clausen - June 8, 2019

This past Saturday I had the great privilege of presiding over the Wedding Ceremony for Tabita Fergason & Corey Clausen.  They are such a well suited young couple and I am certain that they have a wonderful life set out before them.  It will be a pleasure to watch them grow and prosper in their marriage.

To Tabitha and Corey, all the very best of God's blessings to you!  May you both be a blessing to each other every single day!

In Christ,
Roy

Wedding Ceremony – Clausen and Fergason

Processional:

All Please Rise!

Introduction:
Because the image of God dwells within us, we are able to know and personally experience love. It has been said, “He that abides in love, abides in God.”  This is a realization which is celebrated in worship. Where there is the presence of love, there should be worship, for God is the author of love, and He is the Holy One whom we worship. Therefore, it is the heartfelt desire of Corey and Tabitha to welcome you to share and celebrate their covenant and commitment of love during this time of joy-filled worship.

A wedding is a celebration of love and on this day Tabitha and Corey 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. 

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...)

Please all be seated.

In these past few years, Tabitha and Corey have grown to know and to love each other. Now they have decided to commit to living the remainder of their lives together as husband and wife.

Tabitha and Corey... 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 as we ask God’s blessing upon this sacred ceremony.

We have been invited to witness this ceremony today, as Corey and Tabitha, promise each other, their friends and family, and God that together they will face the future, accepting whatever may lie ahead. These surroundings were not chosen by chance, just as Tabitha and Corey believe that they did not meet by chance. They believe that God directed them to be in the same place at the same time and that it was God's will that helped them to find each other. Our God's will... for the beauty that God has laid out before us, for the strength He offers, and for the peace He brings to us, we are eternally grateful.

Corey and Tabitha, nothing is easier than saying words, and nothing is harder than living them day after day. What you promise now on this day... must be renewed and re-affirmed tomorrow... and each day thereafter. At the end of this ceremony, legally you will be man and wife, but much more importantly in the eyes of God... you will be one.  It is from this day forth your pledge to each other and to God to renew and replenish daily... this vow, this love to each other and to God.

Prayer:
Let us please pray: 
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 Corey Michael Clausen and Tabitha Anne Fergason 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 Corey and Tabitha.  Amen. 

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. 

Instructions:
I charge you both as you stand in the presence of God to remember that love and loyalty alone will avail as the foundation of a happy home. If the solemn vows which you are about to make be kept inviolate, and if steadfastly you endeavor to do the will of your Heavenly Father, your life will be full of joy, and the home which you are establishing will abide in peace. No other human ties are more tender, no other vows more sacred than those you now recite and assume.

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

Corey, would you please repeat these words after me if they are the desire of your heart? 
I, Corey, 
take thee, Tabitha, 
to 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 faithfulness.

Tabitha, would you please repeat these words after me if they are the desire of your heart? 
I, Tabitha, 
take thee, Corey, 
to 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, and to cherish 
till death do us part; 
and to you, I pledge my faithfulness.

Exchange of 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 Corey, give this ring to Tabitha as a token of your love for her and an emblem of her love for you?
Response: I do.

Will you, Tabitha, take this ring as a token of Corey's love for you and will you wear it as a symbol of your love for him?
Response: I Will.
(Hand the ring to Corey and he places the ring on Tabitha's finger)

Do you Tabitha, give this ring to Corey as a token of your love for him and an emblem of his love for you?
Response: I do.

Will you, Corey, take this ring as a token of Tabitha's love for you and will you wear it as a symbol of your love for her?
Response: I Will.
(Hand the ring to Tabitha and she places the ring on Corey's finger)

As a ceaseless reminder of this hour, and of the promise you have made to each other and to Jesus Christ, you have placed a ring on your loved one's finger. It is symbolic of your pledge and faith. It is given and received in the name of Jesus Christ, and it reinforces your faith and love to each other. The rings also speak of the oneness you now experience as husband and wife.

Blessing:
Blessed Savior, we pray that the love that those gathered here have towards Corey and Tabitha 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.

Unity Candle and Signing of the Marriage Certificate:
In order to fulfill the requirements of the State of Iowa, we shall now sign before these witnesses the Marriage Certificate.  Then to symbolize the oneness of your hearts and the union of your souls... you will join together in lighting the unity candle. (music is played as they first sign the certificate and then light the candle, then return to their places before the altar.)

Benediction:
Let us please pray... 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.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.


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. 

Pronouncement:
Corey and Tabitha, by the authority given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ as a pastor of one of his churches, and by the authority invested in me as a licensed and ordained minister of the gospel, I pronounce you husband and wife. Corey, you may now kiss your wife.

(As soon as the kiss is over the couple faces the congregation, and the pastor says)  Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Corey Clausen.

Recessional: