A Wedding per verba de praesenti     We are gathered here to celebrate the love and commitment of two people. More than just a moment is celebrated here, but rather the consecration of two lives, two people with distinct pasts & needs & hopes who have humbly dared to form one household, one family.  This is not a contract. For the covenant in which this couple participates is a sanctuary fashioned out of two responsible hearts, not a prison of paper. Join together then, bless with us the two greatest gifts - life & love.     Introit Song of Solomon 3:1-2 Q.- How came you here? A.- The guidance of the divine, the deepest desires of my heart and the free and uncoerced will of the man before me;  all conspired to fashion this union between us.  Unlooked for, we met.  From guarded regard, through careless passion, to tempered love we walked.  And found ourselves here. Q.- And why have you come? A.- We would attest before witnesses, with words of truth and trust, to this living gift of honourable love we embody. To bless and be blessed, like Abram.  For like Abram, we both have gone out from the familiar land of our fathers, haltingly obedient to a divine voice echoing in our hearts and bodies. Q.- Do you then seek a traditional marriage as husband and wife?? A.- No, for neither of us is property of the other - as that tradition requires. Nor is the hope in our union from the promise of many children, as that tradition asserts.  We would not voice any oath or bargain before any god, as that tradition expects.  Nor does one of us pledge outright obedience to the other, as that tradition insists. But each of us have consented to bonds and limits which self-knowledge and compassion first imposed on us, and which time, affection, passion, respect and effort have only strengthened:  I would not take you, Rich, "to have and to hold," like a piece of property. Nor would I swear by any Name.  I would rather whisper endearments to the Name I meet in you. We are two strangers, cut off in a foreign land, a land murderous and cruel.  Even so, we would not be overcome by fear or betray the truth.  Rather, we would rejoice, sing our hymns - our wedding songs - and in all ways testify to this the sweetest joy in our lives.  Knowing, in those times of passion and content and transport together, a perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving.  So we would indeed cherish rather than obey.  And profess faithfulness rather than pledge fealty.  Walking with the light we have been given:  Each other, and our friends. Q.- Do you truly know of what you speak?  Many would call your 'light' darkness. A.- (Kris) "What we are is a crime, if it is a crime to love. For the god who made us live made us love." A.- (Rich) "Love is not a crime. If it were a crime to love, God would not bind even the divine with love." A.- (Both or alternating)So share our delight      And our wonder in this union      With all things seen and unseen. Q.- You lightly evoke the whole of creation to share in the abandon and joy of your communion, to witness the espousal of your loves.  But to what end?  What goal and purpose draws you both so? A.- First and foremost: Joy is its own purpose. For pure Joy was the universe fashioned. But also: For each other.  For each of us bears the other in his heart as love's very image; and so knows a serenity, a confidence and delight in the others' company not known anywhere else.  Each is a living haven for the other, whose key is humble love and tempered trust. Q.- If one of you is not the property of the other, subject to the other, then what is your faithfulness for? A- I am faithful because out of all, he is best for me. {Repeated by the other} Because to offer ourselves to more than one, or to give our heart to one & our body to another, tears us apart.  Fidelity is an expression of the value and uniqueness of our relationship.  An expression of the value each of us places on our own body & heart.  I am faithful because to give my body where I have not given my heart insults us both.  And I have given my heart to you (Response) As I have, to you. Q.(Rich) - What will I be to you? A.- You will be Rich, my comrade in perfect manhood. Q.(Kris) - What will I be to you? A.- You will be Kris, my comrade in perfect manhood. We have chosen and continue to choose, to be joined for life...."to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting. "[1] Our hopes are simple & yet not.  To pass our life in this world together, in happiness and harmony, masters of ourselves, and guides to the hopeful; to live in light always, companions in our pilgrimage.  When the end comes, and, as the philosopher riddles, we perceive our wings, we shall both have grown identical plumage because of our love, one for the other.[2] Philostratus: Time does not change those who are truly beautiful. Nay, it points them out and, far from envying, bears witness to them -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] George Eliot [2] Plutarch: The soul of the lover is ever present in that of the beloved