1pm, 2 August 2003
Alice Millar Chapel
Evanston, Illinois
O Divine Great One, which is in each of us and all of us and everything, we thank you. We thank you for the light of day and the darkness of night, for the hills and valleys, and for the oceans and the plains. We thank you for those who are present and the ones who are yet to be born, whose lives you will touch through us. We thank you, O Divine, for the Host of Angels gathered here who have come to witness and bless this holy event. We thank you for our health of mind, body, and spirit, the abundance of life, and everlasting communion with you. Amen.
Prayer to our Parents by Karen & Charles
[Read alternately by Karen & Charles]
Dear Mom & Dad, we thank you for giving us life, for raising us in love, and for supporting us to become the people we are meant to be in this world honest, productive, loving, caring members of our society. Our love and good works in this world are truly a reflection of your love and support through all the years. We honor you today and always.Karen gives gardenia to her mother.
Charles gives gardenia to his mother.
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore...
Aye, 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 you be alone,
Even as the strings of a 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.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! It is an ever fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love s not Time s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this is error, and upon me prov d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov d.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,
I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
if I have faith great enough to move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,
but have not love, I am nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud.
Love is not rude, love is not self-seeking,
love is not prone to anger, Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not rejoice in what is wrong,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
Prophecies cease; Tongues will be silent; Knowledge will pass away...
There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope and love.
And the greatest of these is love.
Make me an instrument of peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
Amen.
On behalf of Karen & Charles, I welcome you to witness this sacred event. You, the family & friends of Karen & Charles, are not here today as witnesses only, but also to add your own strength and love to their commitments here today. You are here to support, encourage, and honor the sanctity of the promises made between them. They have chosen to publicly proclaim their union before you and all the universe. Together we pray that the Divine who brought them together will guide and sustain them throughout their marriage.
I congratulate both of you on your decision to embark on this sacred journey of Matrimony. The vows you take before us today are your declaration to remain committed to one another regardless of the challenges you face. You have decided to meet life together, supporting one another, and celebrating your individual differences while deepening your union.
Reverend Larry Clemmons: Who gives this woman to be married to this man?
The Father of the Bride: I do.
The Father of the Bride puts the Bride s right hand in the Groom s hands.
The perfect circle of a ring symbolizes purity and eternity, while platinum is a symbol of the honest beauty and genuine strength of love. As you give these rings to each other, our prayer is that your love will be the same pure and eternal, honest, beautiful, & strong. May these rings and your lives together be blessed with love & light, laughter & joy, fun & adventure, health & happiness.
Charles vows to Karen:
I, Charles Bernard Olson, choose you, Karen Marie Senffner,
to be my wedded wife.
You are a vast ocean of love.
You are a great gift from the universe to itself.
You are a miracle and a mystery.
To you I pledge: to love you.
I pledge to respect you,
to listen to you,
to be available for you,
to help you,
to protect you,
to care for you, all of which are expressions of my love for you.
This I pledge freely and with joy.
Thus to love, to love, and to love.
I choose you, Karen, to be my wedded wife.
Karen s vows to Charles
I, Karen, cherish you, Charles for being all that you are.
I promise before our family and friends to commit my love to you,
to respect your individuality, to be with you and support us through
life s changes and to nurture and strengthen the love between us day by day.
Because you deserve no less than the best of me, I will also strive to be more fully my true self.
I pledge to do my very best to make our union strong, enduring and mutually rewarding.
I choose to live a healthy, happy, joy-filled, magical marriage.
I choose you, Charles, to be my wedded husband.
Charles says:
Karen Marie Senffner, I give you this ring as a symbol of our vows,
and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.
[at this point, i, charles, could barely breathe, let alone speak the next line.
it seemed that the entire ceremony was crystalized into this next sentence.
i did not feel hesitation; rather i simply was overwhelmed with the significance of the act.
Reverend Larry repeated my line, and after a few difficult breaths, i spoke:]
With this ring, I thee wed.
Karen says:
Charles Bernard Olson, I give you this ring as a symbol of our vows,
and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.
With this ring, I thee wed.
Now, Karen & Charles,
when there is rain, each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now, Karen & Charles,
when there is cold, each of you will be warmth for the other.
Now you are two persons, and there is one life before you.
May your days together be good, filled with mercy & grace,
and long upon the earth.
Amen.
As Karen & Charles have made their vows of marriage here, today,
in this sacred place, before this congregation and all the world,
and have declared the same by joining hands and giving and receiving rings,
I now pronounce them husband and wife. [kiss...]
or email us at charles@CSMNL.com and/or karen@senffner.net
Thank you for sharing our memories!
love, charles & Karen