This is a wedding sermon and service I performed for colleagues at the hospital where I served.

1. Marriage Service of Julienne Sinkosky and Ryan Brown
June 11, 2011
Preludes
Special Seating
Grandparents, parents of the groom, mother of the bride, other family members
Processional Canon in
D
Groomsmen, bridesmaids, flower girls, bride and father
Greeting
O: Welcome to this joyful day! Today we come to celebrate the love of Julie and Ryan
and bear witness to the vows they make to one another. We gather together—family, friends,
loved ones—to shower them with love and to rejoice with them, pledging to support them as
they embark on this wonderful new life together. You each have helped bring Ryan and Julie to
this place: grandparents whose own loves and marriages paved the way, parents who taught them
the joy of family, friends who have watched Julie and Ryan grow in their relationship with one
another. It is through your love that their love for one another has bloomed and grown. And
now we watch them step into this new and joyful stage in their lives. We thank you all for being
here today!
Reading St. Francis Prayer
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to undertand,
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Reading Tree of Love (Sandra E. McBride)
From the seed of this day,

2. Let their love grow
As the tree grows,
Reaching down, to build
Strong roots,
Reaching out, to provide
Comfort and sustenance,
Reaching up, to seek
The grace of God.
Let their love grow
As the tree grows,
Deeper, wider, stronger
With each passing year.
Reflection
What a beautiful evening! Julie and Ryan, I think I can speak for everyone here
when I say how happy and joyful this day is, when two people filled with such
kindness and gentleness of spirit come together and give their lives to one another.
What makes this day even more special is the fact that you each come from such
strong families, and in your marriage you honor those unions of your parents and
grandparents. It is a rare thing in this world to have so many generations of loving
marriages. Learn from your families: allow them to teach you and to guide you as
you embark on this wonderful journey.
It is fitting that Julie and Ryan have both chosen professions that call for patience,
imagination, and the ability to take small steps to achieve great dreams. The same
skills that make you both such wonderful therapists will deepen and strengthen
your union. Happy marriages, like any other great accomplishment, take careful
tending. They don’t happen on their own. Rather, you must work a little every
day to listen, to comfort, and to honor the other, to put your husband or wife’s
needs before your own. This task is not always easy, but you two know more than
anyone the joy that can come from applying yourself to a goal, in this case, the

3. happiness of life together.
Today you both will promise before your family and friends to love and honor one
another for the rest of your lives. You will say yes to each other—yes to being
friends, partners, and companions. And you have said yes before as a couple—yes
to a first date, a first kiss, yes to sticking together through good times and bad.
That’s what brought you here. But the wedding is special because it is the first
time that you say yes to one another publicly, that you declare to the community
that you are united. And it will be the first time that those you love say yes to you
—yes to supporting you in your love for one another, your lives together, your
hopes and dreams as a couple. This may be the most striking, public time you
declare your love for one another in your entire lives. Enjoy it, relish it, savor it.
But it won’t be the last time you say yes to one another—you’ll do that countless
times during your lives together. Yes to celebrating one another’s
accomplishments, yes to compromising, to taking the high road, to being
demonstrative and selfless in your love for one another. Yes to noticing when the
other person did something great, or when they’re having a bad day, yes to
supporting one another through all of the twists and turns and uncertainties of life.
Yes to speaking what is in your hearts. This yes, this I do, is important because it
lays the foundation for all of the other yeses you’ll say to one another, because
after all marriage isn’t something you only do now, it’s something you recommit
yourselves to every day of your lives. The beauty of marriage is not its perfection
—no human is perfect, so no relationship can be. The beauty of marriage is rather
its ability to withstand the storms of life, to bend without breaking and to hold that
above all things is love.
Ryan, Julienne, remember always the joy of this day. Approach each morning
with gratitude. Love one another deeply, fully, richly, and extravagantly. Honor
one another, be worthy of each other’s trust, challenge and be challenged by each

4. other. Honor not only your relationship, but the relationships you have with those
you love, and those who love you. Delight in the simple moments you share. And
in doing so may you be richly and fully blessed in your lives together.
Declaration of Consent
O: Julie will you have this man to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of
marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in
health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?
B: I do.
O: Ryan, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together in the covenant of
marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in
health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?
G: I do.
Exchanging of Vows
(Officiant leads…)
G: I, Ryan, take you, Julie, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or
for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death
do us part.
B: I, Julie take you, Ryan, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish,
until death do us part.
Unity Candle
Officiant: Julie and Ryan, these two candles symbolize your individual lives, families, and loved
ones. I ask that you each take one of these candles and together light the center candle.
(J and R light, replace the individual candles)
The two candles represent your lives before today. In lighting the center candle, you show all
who know and love you that your two lives are now joined in one, just as your families and all
that you love are now joined together in their support and joy for you.
Exchanging of Rings
O: The wedding ring is an outward sign of the commitment you have made to one
another today. It signifies the joining together of your hearts and lives. Each time you look at it,
remember the joy of this day.
G. Julie, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I
have, I honor you.

5. B: Ryan, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I
have, I honor you.
O: Julie and Ryan, as you have made your vows to one another and have confirmed your
intentions to live in loyalty and faith with one another, by the authority vested in me by God and
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the
bride.
Prayer
O: Let us pray. Eternal God, look with favor upon the world you have made, and
especially upon this man and this woman whom you have brought together. Give them wisdom
and devotion in the ordering of their common life, that each may be to the other a strength in
need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy. Grant that they
may grow in love and peace with one another all the days of their lives. Give them such
fulfillment of their mutual affection that they may reach out in love and concern for others.
Grant that all married persons who have witnessed these vows may find their lives strengthened
and their loyalties confirmed. Now and forever more, Amen.
Blessing
Apache Wedding Blessing
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel
no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no more loneliness, for each
of you will be the companion to the other. Now you are two bodies, but there is only one life
before you. Go now to your dwelling place, to enter into the days of your togetherness. And
may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Introduction of the Bride and Groom
O: It is my great honor to introduce to you Ryan and Julie Brown
Recessional
Bride and Groom
Flower girls, ring bearer
Groomsmen and Bridesmaids
Immediate family
Other guests

6. B: Ryan, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I
have, I honor you.
O: Julie and Ryan, as you have made your vows to one another and have confirmed your
intentions to live in loyalty and faith with one another, by the authority vested in me by God and
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the
bride.
Prayer
O: Let us pray. Eternal God, look with favor upon the world you have made, and
especially upon this man and this woman whom you have brought together. Give them wisdom
and devotion in the ordering of their common life, that each may be to the other a strength in
need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy. Grant that they
may grow in love and peace with one another all the days of their lives. Give them such
fulfillment of their mutual affection that they may reach out in love and concern for others.
Grant that all married persons who have witnessed these vows may find their lives strengthened
and their loyalties confirmed. Now and forever more, Amen.
Blessing
Apache Wedding Blessing
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel
no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no more loneliness, for each
of you will be the companion to the other. Now you are two bodies, but there is only one life
before you. Go now to your dwelling place, to enter into the days of your togetherness. And
may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Introduction of the Bride and Groom
O: It is my great honor to introduce to you Ryan and Julie Brown
Recessional
Bride and Groom
Flower girls, ring bearer
Groomsmen and Bridesmaids
Immediate family
Other guests