Text of Gregg Lind's and Cathryn Beil's Wedding Ceremony

Welcome and recognition of families
[Not used, oops!]

Read by Cory Stanchfield

Welcome everyone!

We're going to get started.

Since they've chosen not to have a formal processional, Cathryn and Gregg would like to take this time to recognize their families.

They would like to thank them for being here today, for their assistance with making today possible, and for raising children able to love, laugh, and appreciate beauty.Please stand and be recognized as I call your name.

This is Cathryn's grandmother, MarjorieMother, Shirley Father, David, and brother (Daniel).

This is Gregg's mother, Judy, Aunt Madeline, and Godmother Barbara.

Let's begin!

Assembly - gather and focus the community of love

CALL TO BEGIN THE CEREMONY WITH THE RINGING OF THE TIBETAN BOWL

The pure sound of the bell summons us into the present moment

The timeless ring of truth is expressed in many different voices.

Each one magnifies and illuminates the sacred.

The clarity of its song resonates within us and calls us away from thatwhich often distracts us:That which was, that which might be...to that which IS.

Processional

[music by Buffalo Gals, attendants process, Cathy and Gregg process]

Invocation to Spirit and Notice of Assembly- prayer for meaningful ceremony

We are gathered in this place of beauty and life to witness the marriage of Gregg and Cathryn. In this sacred and joyful time we call upon the divine presence that lives within each of us. Here, surrounded by the wondrous evidence of God's love, looking down upon this river of rivers, we request a blessed and meaningful ceremony, as Gregg and Cathryn join the rivers of their lives together.

Cathryn and Gregg have come here to make public their love for each other; to give noticement of their truth; to declare their choice to live and partner and grow together -- out loud and in your presence, out of their desire that we all will come to feel a very real and intimate part of their decision, and thus make it even more powerful.

We ask every Blessing for your union, Gregg and Cathryn: A life of confirmation of the wisdom of your choice; great happiness on the path that is set before you; discretion, kindness, and care as you walk upon it; strength to live out your purpose; grace and peace through each step of your journey; and beloved friends and family to support you.

Reading - outlining love as a concept

Cathryn and Gregg have chosen a passage by Rainer Maria Rilke to illustrate their love.

Reader (Craig):

"For one human being to love another human being: That is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person -- it is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person; it is a great, demanding claim on him, something that chooses him and calls him to vast distance. Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky."

Consecration - notice and consent, approval of assembly

Here, beneath this immense sky, Cathryn and Gregg state their intention before this community and God to live side-by-side and love each other for the people that they are and the people they will become. You have resolved to love each other as you are now, and are ready to submit yourselves to true test of marriage: to resolve to continue that love even in the face of change and growth and to let the sweat of effort and the flow of time erode your roughest edges.

Cathryn and Gregg, this day you stand within this wondrous circle, this pocket of beauty alive with the spirits of nature, and surrounded by the presence of those who are here to witness and participate in your marriage, buoyed by the thoughts of those who cannot be here and would greatly have loved to share in this experience with you.

Assembled friends, take a moment to look around you. Appreciate this beautiful place and the beautiful faces of those near you. You do not all know each other, but Gregg and Cathryn's love unites you all. By gathering here this morning you agree to become a community of support and love for Cathryn and Gregg. If you cannot in good conscience be a member of this community, you may withdraw from this ritual circle now.

[pause]

If anyone has any reason this union should not go forward, speak it now.

[Marya facing G and C]

Today you marry an unknown. Only the long unraveling of time will fully reveal each other's depths and intricacies. You know enough about your beloved to know that you love, and that, as time goes on, you will come to enjoy and love each other even more. Together you are embarking on a journey of discovery and exploration, a path down which you will experience your lives more fully.

Declaration of Intent

Cathryn do you choose to make promises of continuing love and commitment to Gregg?

(Cathryn replies: Yes, I do.)

Gregg do you choose to make promises of continuing love and commitment to Cathryn?

(Gregg replies: Yes, I do.)

Water Ceremony - purification and renewal and connection to the natural world

[Marya retrieves pitcher from stand.]

Cathryn and Gregg, please join hands.

This water [raise water] , drawn from the Mississippi, culled from the mother of waters, washes away the angers of the past [pour over clasped hands], it washes away your fears [pour] your regrets, and your failures [pour].

Cathryn and Gregg, as this water, borrowed from the river below and now divided, will return to the great river as it returns to the ocean and cradle of all life, let yourselves remember that you are at once separate from each other and joined with each other, a river onto yourselves and a greater river together.

May the river below us lend some of its power, strength, and resiliency to the lifelong undertaking Gregg and Cathryn proclaim today.

Vows

Gregg, you may now speak your promises to Cathryn.

[Gregg]

Cathryn Charlotte,

You are my keel, my prow, my unfurled sails.
Your touch calms my stormy seas

You are my partner in life, in business, in art, in sadness.

Together we have sat at the right hand of joy and the right hand of sadness.

Loving others has only strengthened the love we feel for each other.

Wherever you are is my home
You will always have a place in my family
And the first part of all that is good within me

As we journey forward together, I resolve:

To believe you,
To express my love for you each day,
To give you encouragement to become the person you want to be,
To love you even if you never become that person,
To support you when you falter or fail,
To love your body as it ages,
To weigh the effects of the words I say and the things I do,
To believe in you even when you doubt yourself,
To comfort you in times of sadness
To accept the ebb and flow of our relationship with comfort instead of fear,
And to be a full partner in our shared enterprise no matter where it takes us.

Cathryn you may now speak your vows to Gregg.

[Cathryn]

Gregg, you are my greatest love, and so, in the presence of this community, I chose to join with you as a partner for life.

I chose you as you are now and as you will be. I chose you with eyes open to the darkness in the world, the darkness in you, and the darkness in myself. I chose you knowing that we will fight that darkness together.

I love you for your thoughtfulness, your creativity, and your sensitivity.

You challenge me to be a truer me and you work to bring me joy.

I do not wish to posses you. I do not believe that you can fulfill all of my needs or that I can fulfill all of yours.

I seek not to hinder your uniqueness, or change who you are, but rather to stand beside you and live our lives together.

Wherever you are is my home
You will always have a place in my family
And the first part of all that is good within me

And so, I joyfully resolve:

To trust you
To express my love to you each day,
To celebrate you as you succeed, change, and grow, and to give you opportunities to succeed, change, and grow
To support you when you falter or fail,
To love your body as it ages,To weigh the effects of the words I say and the things I do,
To believe in you even when you doubt yourself,
To comfort you in times of sadness,
To look after you in times of sickness,
And to be your ally in our mutual and individual struggles against the darknesses outside and within.

I promise that my encouragement will be a swift river for you to sail in, my affection a deep well for you to drink from, and my comfort a cool lake to ease you in the heat.

Ring Exchange

Gregg and Cathryn have chosen to exchange rings as a sign of their commitment to each other. These rings represent wholeness, a coming around of the cycle: From sickness to health, from want to plenty, from despair to joy, from failure to possibility, from loneliness to love. In this moment, Cathryn and Gregg choose for these rings to be symbols of unity, but not of possession. Of joining, but not of restricting. Of encirclement, but not of entrapment.

Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past, and that despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of happiness, wonder and delight.

Gregg, as you present Cathryn with her ring, please state your promise to her

Gregg: "We are joined."

Cathryn, as you present Gregg with his ring, please state your promise to him

Cathryn: "We are joined."

Affirmation of the Community

And now, gathered community, we request your affirmation and support of this union as well. You have witnessed the establishment of this new enterprise, do you now promise to support Gregg and Cathryn in their effort to create and maintain something bigger than themselves. If you promise to help carry the water to refill their wells during dry seasons, please respond "we do".

[the assembly: "we do"]

Pronouncement of Union

And so now, inasmuch as you, Cathryn, and you, Gregg, have announced the truths that are already written in your hearts, and have witnessed the same in the presence of these, your friends, this community of support and love, and the One Living Spirit -- we observe Joyfully that you have declared yourselves to be...husband and wife.

You may now display your love/affection/bond for all to see:

[kiss]

Conclusion

Just as the water below us returns to join all waters, let Gregg and Cathryn rejoin this community with renewed hearts.

For marriage is not something said and done, but a covenant, whose fulfillment is acted out in time. Truth remains elusive, death a secret, love a challenge; life goes on neither more nor less incidentally than before, but one's hand is strengthened, one's way is brightened, and one's load, if not lightened, is made less onerous.

May you live forever in happiness with one another.
May your hearts be full.
May your lips be sweet.
May your love grow strong.
May you love long and happily in each other's arms.

May the Blessings of God rest upon you,
May God's Peace abide in you,
May God's Presence illuminate your heart,Now and forever more.
Amen.

Recessional

[Buffalo Gals play, Gregg and Cathy recede up the center aisle, the attendants following]