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INVOCATION: SONG OF SONGS 2:3-6 (NAS)
"LIKE AN APPLE TREE AMONG THE TREES OF THE FOREST, SO IS MY LOVER AMONG THE YOUNG MEN. IN HIS SHADE I TOOK GREAT DELIGHT AND SAT DOWN, AND HIS FRUIT WAS SWEET TO MY TASTE. HE HAS BROUGHT ME TO HIS BANQUET HALL, AND HIS BANNER OVER ME IS LOVE. SUSTAIN ME WITH RAISIN CAKES, REFRESH ME WITH APPLES, BECAUSE I AM LOVESICK. LET HIS LEFT HAND BE UNDER MY HEAD AND HIS RIGHT HAND EMBRACE ME."
PROCESSIONAL HYMN: "ALL HAIL THE POWER" (#268) - THE REVEREND DANNY RAY, ORGAN
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THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BE WITH YOU ALL.
AND ALSO WITH YOU.
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MY SISTERS AND BROTHERS, TO PREPARE OURSELVES TO CELEBRATE OUR UNION WITH CHRIST LET US CALL TO MIND OUR SINS.
I CONFESS TO ALMIGHTY GOD, AND TO YOU MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THAT I HAVE SINNED THROUGH MY OWN FAULT IN MY THOUGHTS AND IN MY WORDS, IN WHAT I HAVE DONE, AND IN WHAT I HAVE FAILED TO DO; AND I ASK YOU MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO PRAY FOR ME TO THE LORD OUR GOD.
OPENING PRAYER:
LET US PRAY.
FATHER, YOU HAVE MADE THE BOND OF MARRIAGE A HOLY MYSTERY, A SYMBOL OF CHRIST'S LOVE FOR HIS CHURCH. HEAR OUR PRAYERS FOR MARTIN AND CLYDE. WITH FAITH IN YOU AND IN EACH OTHER THEY PLEDGE THEIR LOVE TODAY. MAY THEIR LIVES ALWAYS BEAR WITNESS TO THE REALITY OF THAT LOVE. WE ASK YOU THIS THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER.
AMEN.
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THEN I LOOKED AGAIN AT ALL THE ACTS OF OPPRESSION WHICH WERE BEING DONE UNDER THE SUN. AND BEHOLD I SAW THE TEARS OF THE OPPRESSED AND THAT THEY HAD NO ONE TO COMFORT THEM; AND ON THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSORS WAS POWER, BUT THEY HAD NO ONE TO COMFORT THEM. SO I CONGRATULATED THE DEAD WHO ARE ALREADY DEAD MORE THAN THE LIVING WHO ARE STILL LIVING. BUT BETTER OFF THAN BOTH OF THEM IS THE ONE WHO HAS NEVER EXISTED, WHO HAS NEVER SEEN THEE EVIL ACTIVITY THAT IS DONE UNDER THE SUN. AND I HAVE SEEN THAT EVERY LABOR AND EVERY SKILL WHICH IS DONE IS THE RESULT OF RIVALRY BETWEEN A MAN AND HIS NEIGHBOR. THIS TOO IS VANITY AND STRIVING AFTER WIND. THE FOOL FOLDS HIS HANDS AND CONSUMES HIS OWN FLESH. ONE HAND FULL OF REST IS BETTER THAN TWO FISTS FULL OF LABOR AND STRIVING AFTER WIND. THEN I LOOKED AGAIN AT VANITY UNDER THE SUN. THERE WAS A CERTAIN MAN WITHOUT A DEPENDENT, HAVING NEITHER A SON NOR A BROTHER, YET THERE WAS NO END TO ALL HIS LABOR. INDEED, HIS EYES WERE NOT SATISFIED WITH RICHES AND HE NEVER ASKED, "AND FOR WHOM AM I LABORING AND DEPRIVING MYSELF OF PLEASURE?" THIS TOO IS VANITY AND IT IS A GRIEVOUS TASK. TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE BECAUSE THEY HAVE A GOOD RETURN FOR THEIR LABOR. FOR IF EITHER OF THEM FALLS, THE ONE WILL LIFT UP HIS COMPANION. BUT WOE TO THE ONE WHO FALLS WHEN THERE IS NOT ANOTHER TO LIFT HIM UP. FURTHERMORE, IF TWO LIE DOWN TOGETHER THEY KEEP WARM, BUT HOW CAN ONE BE WARM ALONE? AND IF ONE CAN OVERPOWER HIM WHO IS ALONE, TWO CAN RESIST HIM. A CORD OF THREE STRANDS IS NOT QUICKLY TORN APART.
EPISTLE READING: ROMANS 8:31-39 (NAS)
WHAT THEN SHALL WE SAY TO THESE THINGS? IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO IS AGAINST US? HE WHO DID NOT SPARE HIS OWN SON, BUT DELIVERED HIM UP FOR US ALL, HOW WILL HE NOT ALSO WITH HIM FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS? WHO WILL BRING A CHARGE AGAINST GOD'S ELECT? GOD IS THE ONE WHO JUSTIFIES; WHO IS THE ONE WHO CONDEMNS? CHRIST JESUS IS HE WHO DIED, YES RATHER WHO WAS RAISED, WHO IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. WHO ALSO INTERCEDES FOR US. WHO SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? SHALL TRIBULATION, OR DISTRESS, OR PERSECUTION, OR FAMINE, OR NAKEDNESS, OR PERIL, OR SWORD? JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN, "FOR THY SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." BUT IN ALL THESE THINGS WE OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US. FOR I AM CONVINCED THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS, NOR PRINCIPALITIES, NOR THINGS PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR POWERS, NOR HEIGHT, NOR DEPTH, NOR ANY OTHER CREATED THING, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
GOSPEL READING: MARK 1O:6-9 (NAS)
THE LORD BE WITH YOU.
AND ALSO WITH YOU.
A READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK.
GLORY TO YOU LORD.
"BUT FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. FOR THIS CAUSE A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. WHAT THEREFORE GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NO MAN SEPARATE."
THIS IS THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD.
PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST.
HYMN OF RESPONSE:
GLORY BE TO THE FATHER AND TO THE SON AND TO THE HOLY GHOST. AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING IS NOW AND EVER SHALL BE; WORLD WITHOUT END. AMEN. AMEN.
THE HOMILY: THE REVEREND ELDER DON EASTMAN
COVENANT CONSISTS OF THREE PARTS
1) PROMISE - THE PLEDGE OF LOVING CARE AND FAITHFULNESS
2) CONTINUITY - A SHARED DESTINY, A FUTURE TO LOOK FORWARD TO AND A HISTORY TO LATER LOOK BACK ON AND CELEBRATE
3) BELONGING - HAVING ONE ANOTHER, KNOWING ONE ANOTHER
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