Nazarene wedding

[witchygrrl]

Not sure if it should be here or in Religious Studies, so mods, please move if necessary!

I will be attending a Nazarene wedding, and I'd kinda like to know what to expect. I am pagan now, but I was raised Episcopalian, with a foray into Lutheranism and time in Catholic school. So I realize it's not any of the traditions I am most familar with. But I'm curIous!

tia!

[cappuccinosmom]

Church of the Nazarene is theologically fairly conservative and similar to other Protestants denoms (Wiki says they branched off from Methodist/Weslyan protestantism). Whether practices are conservative or less so depends on the individual church. They are very heavy on missions/evangelisation.

Their home website has pictures of relatively normal looking people. Since your experience has been with mostly liturgical type churches, it'll probably be a learning experience.

[witchygrrl]

Right, so I basically would want to know what a non-liturgical wedding would be. I barely know what a non-liturgical service would be like in general, so would it be free form?

[Happeesupermom]

I'm not sure what you're used to seeing as a wedding ceremony, but I might be able to describe a "Nazarene" (or basic Protestant) wedding... It's pretty traditional, however, there's a bit of freedom as far as the ceremony goes, so you may see it varied.

Basically, the groom would be waiting up front (by the altar) with his Best Man & the Pastor. Attendants would enter first, then Father of the Bride would walk her down the aisle. Pastor will ask, "Who gives this woman to be married?" "I, her father." {You might have a special song or Scripture reading here.}

After that, the Pastor may talk a little about what a marriage is; will probably quote the Bible some here. {Possibly another song or Scripture reading here.} Then, the couple will exchange rings & vows. {They may write their own, or repeat traditional vows (I, __ take __ to be my lawful, wedded....").}

"I do." "I do." "Kiss her-- I present to you, Mr. & Mrs. ___." Yay!

All in all, the ceremony may take anywhere from 30 minutes to just over an hour. The couple will walk out, followed by their attendants, and the reception will follow.

HTH. I hope I didn't over-simplify it or offend anyone... I just don't know how different your experiences might be, so I thought I'd break it down to basic bones.