Jeff and Petrina,
Today you are surrounded by your family and friends – all of whom have gathered here to witness your marriage, and share in the celebration of life ... and I know that I speak for all of them when I express how very glad I am to be sharing this special moment with you.
We know that life has no singular meaning, so much as it is composed of many meaningful events – some of which can be specified and planned for – and one of these life-generating events is marriage.
As you know, no minister, no priest, no Rabbi, no public official can really marry you. Only you can marry yourselves. You can only become husband and wife by a mutual commitment to love each other ... by working toward creating an atmosphere of care, consideration, and respect between you… and by a willingness to face (together) the tensions and anxieties that underlie life.
The essence of this commitment of marriage is the taking of another person in his or her entirety, as lover, companion, and friend. Marriage symbolizes the most intimate sharing of two lives, yet this sharing must enhance, not diminish, the individuality of each partner – a relationship in which each is individually developing, while growing in understanding of the other. We must give ourselves in love, but we must not give ourselves away. It is out of the beautiful tension between separateness and union that love, whose incredible strength is equal only to its incredible fragility, is born and reborn.