Poetry, Prayers and Blessings

Inclusive and expansive, these are the types of readings I like to include in ceremonies. On a questionnaire I use to get the know the couple, I ask them what qualities they most appreciate in each other. I ask them to send their responses, separately so they hear the words for the first time at the wedding ceremony. This reading flows from there.

OPENING PRAYER/READING:

First reading:

The Hope of Love

Author Unknown

“Our hope for you is this:

That you will always remember the qualities

that attracted you to each other when you first met

and how you felt as your feelings of attraction

turned into respect, admiration and finally love.

That you will work hard to turn your feelings of love

into acts of love so that nothing and no one can divide you.

That you will always have kind and loving hearts

that are quick to ask for forgiveness when you are wrong

as well as to forgive when your partner is wrong.

That your love might grow to hear all things,

believe all things, and hope for all things, endure all things;

and that your love increases and overflows,

beyond anything you can yet imagine.”

This also pairs well with the reading of 'Love is patient; love is kind...' for as Wendell Berry says in his poem,

How to be a Poet,  " Patience joins time with eternity" and a sense of humor really helps.

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