Scenes From A "Wedding"

 

The Happy Pair - Susan and Erika

Pre-service introduction - Susan: 

Thank you all for coming to celebrate with us today! I hope you are not expecting a wedding, (though we have ‘borrowed’ some of the conventions of a wedding service and wedding breakfast!) When we signed our Civil Partnership last November we were not allowed to offer our new relationship to God and we felt this to be a very significant lack. We were also unable to invite as many friends and family members as we wished, so we resolved to hold a big party to remedy this deficiency.

 

Susan, Davis, and Erika

Davis' prayer:

Dear God, as we celebrate a year of loving union, we bring to You Susan and Erika, two people you’ve destined to become one. We are not perfect, nor did our love come about perfectly. Yet, through our imperfections, You have allowed Erika and Susan, to see each other’s true hearts and true spirits. Through you dear God, Erika and Susan have found their perfect love.
....

It is that joy they celebrate today in this holy place in the company of loving, supportive and accepting friends and family who have stood beside them through barren and bliss. But their union cannot be complete without Your blessing, because it is through knowing a loving God who accepts them as they are that it is made inviolate. Susan and Erika seek your blessing as their shield against any challenge or strife that may befall them.

 

Erika's Girls

They're beautiful, aren't they?

 

Susan Speechifying

After the Service - Susan:

Last November we signed our civil partnership to seal our relationship. We could become legally partnered but we could not ask our God for his blessing in public. Our church is still in debate about the place of same-sex relationships in the sight of God.
This, as many of you are already aware, is the political strand of our story.

So, today I’m here to give my great heartfelt thanks to the many people who have walked alongside us on our journey.  I am not here to complain. I am here to say that I am the luckiest person on this planet! I had a wonderful first relationship which sustained me for many years and enabled me to grow and develop. I have two wonderful children and now two wonderful grandsons and another grandchild soon to be with us we hope! I have had the privilege of being a friend to Erika for the last thirteen years and of getting to know and love Maria and Anna as they have grown up. And I am so deeply blessed by the love that Erika and I share, that I can only thank God for his ability to give us gifts far greater than we could ever dare ask for ourselves!



Speaks For Itself

Much love and many blessings to you, Erika and Susan. May you and your families share many happy years together.

PS: Thank you, Susan and Erika, for giving me the privilege of sharing your joyful day with my readers.