Ceremony Program

The Celebration and Blessing

of the Marriage of

Juan Manuel Russo Miranda and Thomas Hoehn

Greeting:

P: The love of all that’s Holy and the Community of those who celebrate this occasion be with you.

Response: And also with you.

P: El amor de todo lo Santo y la Comunidad de los que celebran esta ocasión estén con vosotros.

R: Y también contigo.

P: Dear Friends: We have come together in the presence of this holy community to to witness and support the marriage of Juan Manuel Russo Miranda and Thomas Hoehn, to surround them with our prayers, and to share in their joy.

We pray that this couple may fulfill that which is celebrated here for the whole of their lives.

P: Thomas, will you have Juan to be your partner, to live together in the covenant of   marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?

Thomas: I Will

P: Juan, will you have Thomas to be your partner, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?

Juan: I Will

On Marriage, Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese-American writer and poet) 

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of your be alone,

Even as the strings of the lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each

other’s shadow.

P: Let us pray together The Lord’s Prayer

R: Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever.

Amen.

The Marriage Vows 

P: Tom and Juan, I invite you to declare your vows to one another

(Juan and Tom have prepared vows)

T/J: In the presence of this community, I, (Name), take you, (Name), to be my husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, to join with you and share all that is to come, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live. 

Giving of the Rings

P: We give thanks for love and faithfulness. May these rings be symbols of the promise Tom and Juan have made with each other.

R: Amen.

Juan: I give you this ring as a sign of my love and faithfulness. 

Thomas: I give you this ring as a sign of my love and faithfulness. 

Acclamation

P: Tom and Juan, by their promises before God and in the presence of this assembly, have joined themselves to one another as husbands. Those whom God has joined together let no one separate. 

R: Amen. Thanks be to God.

P: You may now seal your vow with a kiss. 

Marriage Blessing:

P: May you be filled with the Spirit of Holiness, commitment, and community.

May you go and live in peace. And may you always know just how much you are loved.

R: Amen.

Presentation of the Couple:

P: It is with great joy that I present to you, for the first time as a married couple, Thomas Hoehn and Juan Manuel Russo Miranda.