A Sunday-school teacher is to marry a server from the
same church, and they have announced that their wedding will take
place during a Sunday parish eucharist, with everyone invited to
the buffet reception that will follow in the hall. It sounds
wonderful, but it is so unusual that I am wondering whether it is
permitted.
It may be unusual, but it would be difficult to imagine a more
appropriate way for two loyal communicants to be married than
during the Sunday parish eucharist, at which they are regularly
involved.
This wonderful arrangement needs no justification or special
permission, because it enables the couple's extended church family
to celebrate their nuptial joy in the best possible way. At the
Marriage Service within a Celebration of Holy Communion (Common
Worship: Pastoral Services), the officiant may, at one point,
address the congregation as "gathered together as God's family";
and that says it all.
Liturgically, the proposed plans fall in line with the
comparable pattern of administering baptism, confirmation, and
sometimes ordination at a Sunday eucharist, with the advantage that
these sacraments of initiation and vocation are given the
prominence they deserve in the life of the church.
Similarly, the solemnisation of marriage during a Sunday
eucharist will highlight both the sacramental and vocational
character of holy matrimony.
(Canon) Terry Palmer
Magor, Monmouthshire
My late husband and I were married during a Sunday eucharist -
both of us previously widowed, both of us Readers. We were married
in "my" church at a combined service with the three parishes in the
benefice. The choir and members of both our congregations were
present, and many members of both our families.
We had refreshments and a wedding cake in the hall at the back
of the church afterwards. The vicars of both our churches shared
the service: one of us from Bath & Wells diocese, and the other
from Rochester diocese. I am not aware that permission was obtained
from either bishop. The marriage was solemnised in Bath & Wells
diocese.
(Mrs) Sally Seymour
Matfield, Tonbridge, Kent
I recently went with my father to see my mother at the
chapel of rest. I asked the Vicar what an appropriate prayer would
be, and he said that he had never been asked this before. In the
end, we decided on the Lord's Prayer. Have your readers any other
suggestions? M.
Our benefice of four small parishes is likely to be
split up on the retirement of our incumbent. It will be well-nigh
impossible for any of us to meet our Parish Share in future. We
would like to resist being split up because (a) we don't want to
lose our working relationship, and (b), if we are not financially
viable, it is unlikely that we will be welcomed elsewhere. Can a
benefice exist permanently without an incumbent, thus relieving us
of the cost of meeting a full-time stipend, but "buying in" such
priestly services as are needed? Licensed lay people could cover
non-sacramental services. J. H.
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