I love how succinctly Canadian band The City Harmonic‘s lyrics sum up the picture of marriage (to point to Jesus’s love for His Church) in that one sentence:
This is the story of the Son of God hanging on a cross for me,
But it ends with a bride and groom and a wedding by a glassy sea.
It’s musically well-crafted too. It starts melancholy (like Aqualung or Glen Hansard) and gradually expands into a wall of Brit-pop anthem-like sound (kinda like if Chris Martin and Coldplay sang with gospel eyes).
Lyrics:
This is the story of the Son of God hanging on a cross for me,
But it ends with a bride and groom and a wedding by a glassy sea.
O death, where is your sting?
‘Cause I’ll be there singing,
‘Holy, holy, ho, holy is the Lord.’
This is the story of a bride in white waiting on her wedding day;
Anticipation welling up inside while her groom is crowned a King.
O death, where is your sting?
‘Cause I’ll be there singing..Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.
Who was and is, and is to come.This is the story of the Son of God hanging on a cross for me,
And it ends with a bride and groom and a wedding by a glassy sea.
This is the story of a bride in white singing on her wedding day;
Altogether all that was and is, can stand before her God and sing.Copyright © 2011 Thankyou Music/Adm by worshiptogether.com songs excl. UK & Europe
adm by Kingswaysongs, a division of David C Cook
Not sure how to use it congregationally, but chord chart and other resources available on their website.
A processional for Enoch and Abby’s wedding was a great application for this song! I assume the accompaniment was heavily embellished as per Mandy’s usual technical brilliance. What lovely imagery in simple lyrics.