A Selection of Readings, Poems & Prayers - Sarah Brelvi

1 A Selection of Readings, Poems & Prayers Reverend Brelvi READINGS, Poems & Prayers The following are a collection of readings, Poems and Prayers that can be brought into your wedding ceremony. They are one way of adding a certain flavor to your ceremony to help shape it into the wedding of your dreams. For example, if you wanted to bring in a little religious flavor, you could choose a Bible reading . Or maybe you love poetry and want to express your feelings about your marriage through a beautiful poem. Or perhaps a certain reading distills the perfect essence of marriage and you would like to share it to inspire your loved ones.

2 Please note that one way of honoring a loved one or a friend is to invite them to participate in the ceremony by sharing a reading , poem or prayer . This adds drama, warmth, connection and joy to your ceremony. You could also share the reading , poem or prayer yourself, either to your partner, or together. Of course, you can always have one of our celebrants enthusiastically present your favorite passage as you take in its rich joy and meaning on your miraculous day. BIBLE READINGS First Corinthians, Chapter 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

3 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

4 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

5 But the greatest of these is love. Modern Version of Paul to the Corinthians Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Psalm 1 Blessed are the man and the woman who have grown beyond themselves and have seen through their separations. They delight in the way things are and keep their hearts open, day and night.

6 They are like trees planted near flowing rivers, which bear fruit when they are ready. Their leaves will not fall or wither. Everything they do will succeed. Ruth said: Intreat me not to leave thee, Or to return from following after thee: For whither thou goest, I will go, And where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, And thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If ought but death part thee and me. (Ruth 1: 16-17) reading from the book of Genesis The Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone.

7 I will make him a helpmate." So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beast and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate suitable for the man was found for him. So the Lord God made the man fall into deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man.

8 The man exclaimed: "This at last is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh! This is to be called woman, for this was taken from man" This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife and they become one body. The word of the Lord. OTHER INSPIRATIONAL READINGS The Key To Love The key to love is understanding. The ability to comprehend not only the spoken word, but those unspoken gestures, the little things that say so much by themselves. The key to love is to accept each others faults and pardon mistakes, without forgetting, but with remembering what you learn from them.

9 The key to love is Facing your good fortunes as well as the bad, together; both conquering problems, forever searching for ways to intensify your happiness. The key to love is without thought of return, but with the hope of just a simple smile, and by giving in but never giving up. The key to love is realising that you are two separate people, with different ideas; that you don't belong to each other, that you belong with each other, and share a mutual bond. The key to love is inside us It takes time and patience to unlock all the ingredients that will take you to its threshold; it is the continual learning process that demands a lot of but the rewards are more than worth the and that is the key to love.

10 On Friendship by Roy Croft (also called 'Love'; also called 'To my Friend') I love you, not for what you are, but what I am, when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out. I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart and passing over all the frivolous and weak things that you cannot help seeing there, and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful and radiant things that no one else has looked quite far enough to I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy.