St Mary’s Church

St Albans

________________________

Marriage

of

Katie

and

Ben

________________________

Saturday, 27^th September, 2003

at 1.00pm

Order of Service

Minister: Rev. Jeremy Archer

CANON IN D……………Pachelbel

WELCOME

HYMN

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me:

I once was lost, but now am found;

was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved;

how precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

‘tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

his word my hope secures;

he will my shield and portion be,

as long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess, within the veil,

a life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

bright shining as the sun,

we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

than when we first begun.

THE INTRODUCTION TO MARRIAGE

THE DECLARATIONS

When the minister asks: “Will you, the families and friends of

Katie and Ben, support and uphold them in their marriage, now and in the years to come?”

Please respond: We will

THE COLLECT

THE READING

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 ……    ….Read by Karen McFee

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.  But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.  For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known  And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three and the greatest of these is love.

THE SERMON

HYMN

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,

lowly we kneel in prayer before thy throne,

that theirs may be the love which knows no ending,

whom thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be thou their full assurance

of tender charity and steadfast faith,

of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance,

with childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;

grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,

and to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow

that dawns upon eternal love and life.

THE VOWS AND THE GIVING OF THE RINGS

THE PROCLAMATION

and

THE BLESSING OF THE MARRIAGE

HYMN

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,

And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,

And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth;

At Bethlehem I had my birth:

Dance, then, wherever you may be;

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He,

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,

And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said He

I danced for the scribe and the pharisee,

But they would not dance and they wouldn’t follow me;

I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;

They came with me and the dance went on:

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame:

The holy people said it was a shame.

They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,

And they left me there on a cross to die:

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;

It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.

They buried my body and they thought I’d gone;

But I am the dance and I still go on:

They cut me down and I leap up high;

I am the life that’ll never, never die;

I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me:

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He:

PRAYERS

concluding with

THE LORD’S PRAYER

FINAL BLESSING

 

SIGNING OF THE REGISTER

Nulla In Mundo Pax Sincera …….Sung by Linda Cather

The couple will leave the church – please stand

 WEDDING MARCH…………by Mendelssohn