Co-written and co-read with Amanda
By the God of the covenant, may your vows be blessed. May they be like bones for your life, furnishing form and strength. Unshaken by pain or need, may your vows enable new liberties. May you find ever-near help to keep them, and joy as they keep you.
Joshua and Jessamy, We bless you.
By the God of communion, may your wills be made one, braided to the will of Christ. As you bind yourselves to Him, may your desires unite. May you find peace in the strength of submission.
Jessamy and Joshua, We bless you.
By the one Lord, faith, and baptism, may you manifest equality, ambitious in submitting, serving, and sacrificing for one another. May you magnify your spouse’s dignity.
Joshua and Jessamy, We bless you.
By the God of desire, who lives in unapproachable splendor, may you seek and find one another. May you learn the marriage dance of turn and return, of endless rediscovery. As, after winter, spring enflames the cherry trees, may your marriage keep being renewed.
Jessamy and Joshua, We bless you.
By the God of Jonah and Nineveh, of the fish, vine, and worm, may you be heroes of forgiveness. May you be tempered to give repentance and undeserved grace. When you hurt one another, may you have courage.
Joshua and Jessamy, We bless you.
By the God of Jerusalem and New Jerusalem, may your marriage be a home: a scent of jasmine in the evening as you walk to your door, a green place, a cool valley where a river cuts through.
Jessamy and Joshua, We bless you.
By the God of the ascension, may your bodies be blessed. May they be healed by the delight of your beloved. May you ready each other for good, strong deaths. May God’s glory shine through your skin.
Joshua and Jessamy, We bless you.
By the God of abundance, the Good Father, may you have children. May your bed be fruitful and your house be full. May you see your children’s children’s children abiding in plenty.
Jessamy and Joshua, We bless you.
By the God of angels, saints, archangels, and the poor, may your marriage be a refuge to others. May your home be a haven for wayfarers; a place of honesty, hope, and truth. May many come and find refreshment under your roof.
Joshua and Jessamy, We bless you.
By the sanctifying God, may you be partners in prayer, counselors in perplexity, comforters in sorrow, companions in joy, supporters in need, and advocates in vocation.
Jessamy and Joshua, We bless you.
By the only wise Father, Spirit, and Son, the Fashioner and Finisher of all good things, the Lover of your souls,
Joshua and Jessamy, We bless you.