Group Discussion

Wedding Vows

Watch/Listen to Ellie Holcolmbe’s “I Will Carry You.” (Watch Video Here)

Verse 1:

I know you're tired, I see it in your eyes
All that anxiety that rules your mind
I'll be your shield when you don't feel like
You've got strength enough to fight
I'll stand by your side

Chorus:

I will carry you
Through your darkest night
When you're terrified
I will carry you
When the waters rise
When your hope runs dry
I will carry you

Verse 2:

You are not the sum of your mistakes
You don't have to hide the parts of you that ache
I choose you as you are a million times
'Cause I am not ashamed of you
I won't walk away from you

Bridge:

Up and over the mountains
Valley deep as the ocean
When you can't keep going
I will shoulder your burdens
Up and over the mountains
Valley deep as the ocean
When you can't keep going
I will shoulder your burdens

Opening Question (Ask everyone to answer around the group)

What stood out most to you?

Core Question 1

Consider the feelings and struggles being identified in Verses 1 & 2. With which stanza do you more closely identify at this time in your life?

What other struggles are you dealing with in your life right now?

Core Question 2

Isaiah 46:3-4 says, “Listen to me…you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” 

How have you experienced God carrying you throughout different stages of your life?

Core Question 3

Notice how this advice from St. Ignatius compares to our modern wedding vows:

“We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.  For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.  Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me.”

(Wedding Vows: I take you to have and to hold from this day forward.  For better or for worse.  For richer or for poorer.  In sickness and in health.  To love and to cherish, until death do us part.  This is my solemn vow.)

How do you feel about this advice?

Concluding Meditation

Take some time to respond to Jesus in a way that feels right to you.  You might pray the traditional wedding vows to Him or come up with vows of your own.  You might bring a question or need to Him.  You might simply sit and rest in His embrace.  There is no right or wrong way, just be open to how God is leading you to respond.