Inclusive Statement on the Gift of Marriage

Thanks to Catherine Taylor, Blacksburg (VA) Presbyterian Church, for contributing this inclusive language version of a Statement on the Gift of Marriage.

We gather in the presence of God to give thanks for the gift of marriage, to witness the joining together of Name and Name, to surround them with our prayers, and to ask God’s blessing upon them, so that they may be strengthened for their life together and nurtured in their love for God.

God created us in God’s image and gave us marriage so that couples may help and comfort each other, living faithfully together in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, throughout all their days.

God gave us marriage for the full expression of physical love. In marriage two people belong to each other, and with affection and tenderness freely give themselves to each other.

God gave us marriage for the well-being of human society, for the ordering of family life, and for the nurture of children.

God gave us marriage as a holy mystery, in which two are joined together, and become one, just as God is One and yet at the same time a community of love.

In marriage we are called to a new way of life, created, ordered, and blessed by God. This way of life must not be entered into carelessly, or from selfish motives, but responsibly and prayerfully.

We rejoice that marriage is given by God, blessed by Christ, and sustained by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, let marriage be held in honor by all.