Prayer after confirming the wedding

LEADER: Let us begin this service by praying that today’s ceremonies will go well with the blessings of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

(All sing together the Mar-thomman song)

മാർത്തോമ്മാൻ നന്മയാലൊന്നു തുടങ്ങുന്നു
നന്നായ് വരേണമേയിന്ന്
ഉത്തമനായ മിശിഹാ തിരുവുള്ളം
ഉണ്മൈയെഴുന്നൾക വേണം

കാരണമായവരെല്ലാരും കൂടീട്ട്
നന്മവരുത്തിത്തരേണം
ആലാഹാനായനും അൻപൻ മിശിഹായും
കൂടെ തുണയ്ക്ക ഇവർക്ക്.

Maarthommaan Song (Transliteration)

Maarthommaan nanmayaal-onnu thudangunnu
Nannaay varename-yinnu
Uthamanaaya mishihaa thiru-vullam
Unmaiyezhunnalka venam

Kaaranamaayavar-ellaarum koodittu
Nanmavaruthi-tharenam
Aalaahaanaayanum anpan mishihaayum
Koode thunaykka ivarkku.

A free translation of the song:

With Lord Thoma’s goodness, let us start,
May everything happen well today.
The holy will of the Good Christ be upon us,
And may His peace remain with us always.

All the elders together,
Make this good in God’s sight.
In God the Lord and the Messiah’s grace.
We will find the help we need.

LEADER: Our Father in heaven

ALL: Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth / as it is in heaven. Give us this day the bread we need / and forgive us our debts and sins / as we have forgiven those who offended us. Do not let us fall into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

SER: Let us pray. Peace be with us.

PSALM 121

I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
From whence shall come my help?

My help comes from the LORD,
The maker of heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip;
Or your guardian to sleep.

Behold, the guardian of Israel
never slumbers nor sleeps.

The LORD is your guardian;
The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

By day the sun will not strike you,
Nor the moon by night.

The LORD will guard you from all evil;
He will guard your soul.

The LORD will guard your coming and going
both now and forever.

READER: A reading from the Book of Genesis (Gen 24:33-52).

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring. When he saw the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms and when he heard Rebekah repeating what the man had said to her, he went to him while he was standing by the camels at the spring. He said: “Come, blessed of the LORD! Why are you standing outside when I have made the house ready, as well as a place for the camels?” The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

But when food was set before him, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my story.” “Go ahead,” they replied. “I am Abraham’s servant,” he began. “The LORD has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. My master put me under oath, saying: ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live; instead, you must go to my father’s house, to my own family, to get a wife for my son.’ When I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ he replied: ‘The LORD, in whose presence I have always walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey successful, and so you will get a wife for my son from my own family and my father’s house. Then you will be freed from my curse. If you go to my family and they refuse you, then, too, you will be free from my curse.’

“When I came to the spring today, I said: ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, please make successful the journey I am on. While I stand here at the spring, if I say to a young woman who comes out to draw water, ‘Please give me a little water from your jug,’ and she answers, ‘Drink, and I will draw water for your camels, too—then she is the woman whom the LORD has decided upon for my master’s son.’ “I had scarcely finished saying this to myself when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. After she went down to the spring and drew water, I said to her, ‘Please let me have a drink.’ She quickly lowered the jug she was carrying and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels, too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also. When I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ she answered, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, borne to Nahor by Milcah.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I knelt and bowed down to the LORD, blessing the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son.

Now, if you will act with kindness and fidelity toward my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that too. I can then proceed accordingly.” Laban and Bethuel said in reply: “This thing comes from the LORD; we can say nothing to you either for or against it. Here is Rebekah, right in front of you; take her and go, that she may become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has said.” When Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.

ALL: Glory to God Our Lord.

LEADER: Thank You, Lord and God, for granting us the opportunity to come together here and discuss the wedding plans of our beloved son and daughter, which You have so lovingly given to our families. We rely on Your divine will and ask for Your blessings for them and for us to ensure the success of this wedding. We understand we need your help in order to be successful. Allow us to collaborate in the name of God and for the benefit of our beloved children and families. We humbly ask this in the name of Jesus, the Lord. Amen.