Now Bring Your Joy To This Wedding

One of the important, if often overlooked, tasks of the parish pastor is effective premarital counseling. Since many couples are overwhelmed by the arrangements for their wedding, it can often be difficult to lead them into a realistic and faithful dialogue that prepares them for the long-term implications of the marriage covenant. Developed by an experienced pastoral counselor/marriage therapist along with a parish pastor, Now Bring Your Joy To This Wedding is an excellent premarital resource with a practical, accessible approach to preparing couples for the joys and challenges of marriage. Its field-tested material is structured around four key areas of married life: intimacy, power, security, and freedom/responsibility. The text is addressed to couples in a friendly, conversational tone, and questions, exercises, cartoons, and guidelines stimulate active participation. Each chapter has prayer exercises that reveal God’s grace-filled ways. Two workbooks (one each for the bride and groom) for writing down and sharing responses are also included. Whether the setting is a weekend retreat for a number of couples, individual counseling sessions with a pastor, or even use by a couple themselves, Now Bring Your Joy To This Wedding is sure to help couples grow in all phases of their relationship.