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Joining Hands and Hearts

Interfaith, Intercultural Wedding Celebrations: A Practical Guide for Couples

By: Susanna Macomb, Andrea Thompson (As told to)

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Paperback | 9 January 2003 | Edition Number 1

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Paperback
336 Pages

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22.86 x 15.24 x 2.03

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So you're getting married! The wedding is the most gloriously celebrated of life's rites of passage. Today couples of all faiths, colors, and cultures are choosing an interfaith ceremony for its spiritually inclusive and personal approach. It is a way of rejoicing in our differences and celebrating our commonality in an atmosphere of mutual love and respect.
If yours is an interfaith, intercultural, or interracial union, then you have already embraced a love that knows no boundaries. What could be more beautiful? But now that it's time to make a public statement to the world, you may suddenly be filled with questions:

How do we make sure that our ceremony is a reflection of our love and our relationship?
How do we remain true to ourselves and still make our families happy?
How can we create a wedding ceremony that merges our religious, spiritual, cultural, and personal beliefs? Can we do this without offending or alienating anyone?
Who will officiate at our ceremony?
When and where will the ceremony take place? Which rituals will we include?

Joining Hands and Hearts will help you answer all of these questions and more, with a detailed questionnaire to help you learn more about yourselves and each other, practical guides to structuring an interfaith wedding ceremony, tender counsel on how to work with your families, and the most complete manual of religious, cultural, and universal rituals, prayers, vows, and blessings available. In warm, inclusive language, Reverend Susanna Macomb guides you through the most sensitive of issues with love and encouragement. She offers the stories and ceremonies of other couples to inspire you. You are not alone!
Interfaith, intercultural, and interracial couples bring healing and hope for all of us. You are the future, and Joining Hands and Hearts can help you celebrate your union with all of the love, grace, and magic it deserves.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sociology & Anthropology Sociology Sociology & Family & Relationships Family & Health Relationships & Families: Advice & Issues Dating, Relationships, Living Together & Marriage Lifestyle & Fashion Weddings Self-Help, Personal Development & Practical Advice Popular Psychology Reference, Information & Interdisciplinary Subjects

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Preface	p. xvii
Introduction: So You're Getting Married!	p. 1
Planning Your Wedding
What Is Interfaith? A Philosophy of the Heart	p. 9
The Religious	p. 15
The Spiritual	p. 16
The Cultural	p. 18
The Personal	p. 19
Interlude: Anna and Josh, a former Evangelical Christian-agnostic Protestant Jewish couple	p. 21
Tell Me All About It: A Questionnaire for Couples	p. 25
Logistics	p. 28
Envisioning your ceremony	p. 28
Your backgrounds and families	p. 29
Matters of the heart: about your relationship	p. 31
About yourself	p. 34
The questionnaire. Enjoy!	p. 36
Interlude: Annette and Robert, a Greek Orthodox-Lutheran couple	p. 39
Practicalities: The Nuts and Bolts of Any Wedding	p. 42
The setting: where will your wedding take place?	p. 42
The celebrant: who will marry you?	p. 44
Working with your celebrant	p. 47
The license	p. 51
The rehearsal	p. 51
The microphone	p. 52
The music	p. 52
The sacred space	p. 52
Interlude: Christine and Dave, a Catholic-Mormon couple	p. 53
Family Matters: Working with Family and Friends Throughout the Wedding Process	p. 56
Communication is key; listen from the heart	p. 58
Letting go may be hard	p. 59
Ask for your parents' support and blessing	p. 59
Let your parents find their own peace with your marriage	p. 61
Let there be no uncomfortable surprises	p. 62
Reassure your parents that your heritage need not disappear	p. 63
Assure your parents that you've chosen your partner out of love, not rebellion	p. 65
Do not assume you know how your parents will react	p. 66
Having a sense of humor helps	p. 67
Encourage your parents to reach out to your spouse and his or her family	p. 68
If your parents are too shy to reach out, do it yourself	p. 68
Lean on your friends for support	p. 69
Consider honoring your close family members	p. 70
Think of ways to involve the children	p. 71
Consider acknowledging the death of a loved one	p. 72
If a family member or close friend is ill, consider acknowledging them	p. 74
Interlude: Sven and Elizabeth, an Episcopalian-Catholic couple	p. 76
The Interfaith Ceremony: Its Components and Structure	p. 79
A word about rituals	p. 80
Building your ceremony	p. 80
Procession	p. 81
Ritual (optional)	p. 83
Opening words	p. 83
Reading(s) (optional)	p. 86
Honoring of family members (optional)	p. 87
Celebrant's address	p. 89
Prayer (optional)	p. 91
Declaration of intent	p. 92
Ritual(s) (optional)	p. 93
Silent prayer (optional)	p. 93
Vows	p. 93
Blessing and exchange of rings	p. 95
Pronouncement	p. 96
Kiss	p. 96
Closing blessing	p. 96
Ritual (optional)	p. 97
Recession	p. 98
Interlude: Ginger and Stevie, a Jewish-Catholic couple	p. 99
The Manual: Turning Religious, Cultural, and Universal Rituals, Prayers, Vows, and Blessings into Interfaith Celebrations
A Menu of General Wedding Rituals and Traditions	p. 105
Veiling and unveiling of the bride	p. 105
Exchanging of rings	p. 106
Sharing of a cup of wine	p. 106
Breaking of bread	p. 107
Handfasting, or binding of the hands	p. 108
Candle lighting ceremony	p. 110
Releasing of butterflies	p. 111
Releasing of doves	p. 112
Universal Passages for Almost Any Wedding: Romantic Selections from Literature, Philosophy, and History	p. 114
Opening words	p. 114
Readings	p. 115
Honoring of family members	p. 126
Prayers and blessings	p. 127
Vows	p. 130
Blessing of rings	p. 133
Ring vows	p. 133
Pronouncement	p. 135
Kiss	p. 136
Religions and Their Marriage Practices: A Menu of Elements	p. 137
Baha'i	p. 137
Buddhism	p. 140
Christianity	p. 148
Confucianism	p. 157
Hinduism	p. 159
Islam	p. 168
Jainism	p. 173
Judaism	p. 175
Native American Spirituality	p. 188
Shinto	p. 191
Sikhism	p. 195
Sufism	p. 200
Taoism	p. 204
Zoroastrianism	p. 207
Wedding Customs from Around the World	p. 212
Afghani	p. 212
African-American	p. 213
Arabic or Middle Eastern	p. 221
Armenian	p. 221
Austrian	p. 222
Bulgarian	p. 222
Cambodian	p. 222
Chinese	p. 223
Cyprian	p. 225
Czech	p. 225
Danish	p. 225
Dutch	p. 225
Egyptian	p. 226
English	p. 226
Filipino	p. 226
Finnish	p. 227
French	p. 227
German	p. 227
Greek	p. 228
Hawaiian	p. 228
Hungarian	p. 229
Indian	p. 229
Indonesian	p. 230
Iranian	p. 231
Irish	p. 232
Italian	p. 233
Japanese	p. 233
Korean	p. 234
Laotian	p. 235
Latin American, Central American, and Spanish	p. 235
Latvian	p. 236
Malaysian	p. 236
Mexican	p. 237
Moroccan	p. 237
Norwegian	p. 238
Pakistani	p. 238
Polish	p. 238
Portuguese	p. 239
Romanian	p. 239
Russian	p. 239
Samoan	p. 240
Scandinavian	p. 240
Scottish	p. 240
Spanish	p. 240
Sudanese	p. 241
Swedish	p. 241
Swiss	p. 241
In Their Own Words: Eight Interfaith, Intercultural Couples, Their Love Stories and Wedding Ceremonies
Leah and Zack, a Jewish-Iranian couple	p. 245
Natasha and Phillip, a Hindu-Jewish couple	p. 252
Mercedes and Jack, a converted Buddhist-Jewish couple	p. 262
Vicki and Karl, a Greek Orthodox-Jewish couple	p. 269
Marie and Luigi, an Italian-American Catholic couple	p. 277
Chante and Judah, an African-American, Native American, Baptist French, Russian Jewish, Sufi, Rastafarian couple	p. 284
Sylvia and Fakir, an African-American Christian-Moroccan Muslim couple	p. 293
Jacqueline and Kenneth, a Born-Again Christian-Jewish couple	p. 300
Epilogue	p. 305
Resources	p. 307
A Final Word	p. 309
Permissions Acknowledgments	p. 311
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Joining Hands and Hearts

Interfaith, Intercultural Wedding Celebrations: A Practical Guide for Couples

At a Glance

Paperback

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How to return your order

Defective items

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