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Rich in ceremony and religious significance, holding your wedding in a
church is a wonderful way to begin your life as a married couple. Here are
a few of our favorite readings for your ceremony.
Old Testament readings:
Genesis 2:18-24
The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a
helper suitable for him."
Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the
field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what
he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that
was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of
the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took
one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, for she was taken out of man."
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his
wife, and they will become one flesh.
Sirach 26:-4, 13-16
Happy is the husband of a good wife;
the number of his days will be doubled.
A loyal wife rejoices her husband,
and he will complete his years in peace.
A good wife is a great blessing:
she will be granted among the blessing of the man who fears the Lord. Whether rich or poor, his heart is glad,
and at all times his face is cheerful.
A wife’s charm delights her husband,
and her skill puts fat on his bones.
A silent wife is a gift of the Lord,
and there is nothing so precious as a disciplined soul.
A modest wife adds charm to charm,
and no balance can outweigh the value of a chaste soul.
Like the sun rising in the heights of the Lord,
so is the beauty of a good wife in her well-ordered home.
New Testament Readings:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres.
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8a
Earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging symbol. 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 have not love, I am nothing. If I giveaway all I
have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain
nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not
arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable
or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
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