Celebrating Life Events

At Services Marking Special Events In People's Lives

Weddings and Same-Sex Blessings

We welcome enquiries from couples in Edinburgh who wish to marry within the liberal pluralist Unitarian tradition. The form and content of a marriage service is usually devised by our minister working together with the couple concerned according to the couple's needs and wishes, though here there are a few legal requirements. The service may take place in venues other than our church. Unitarian ministers regularly conduct marriage ceremonies where one or both of the parties are divorcees. Unitarians are virtually unique in devising personalised ceremonies in cases where the couple are from mixed faith backgrounds (e.g. Christian and Jewish) or none. At St Mark's we are happy to help same-sex couples to devise a service of blessing for their partnership. We are actively lobbying the Scottish government to allow same-sex couple the right to marry in places of worship.

Welcoming Children

A ceremony to celebrate the birth or adoption of a child may be called a welcoming, a naming, a dedication, a blessing or, more traditionally, a baptism. Accordingly, the form and content will differ - e.g. water may or may not be used. The ceremony may take place at our church on Castle Terrace or at the family home if this is more appropriate to those involved.

You are baptised with water as a symbol of the common life which is in you, and in the world about you. We welcome you to the community of life on earth, and dedicate you to everything which is beautiful, and truthful, and good.

Funerals and Memorial Services

Whether at a crematorium, place of worship, home or graveside, our minister is concerned primarily with the needs and wishes of the bereaved, and seeks to reflect the life and beliefs of the dead person in a personal way.

We are glad that you lived, that we saw your face, knew your friendship, and walked the way of life with you. Now in peace and thankfulness we bid you farewell. Your spirit we commit into God's care. Your companionship, your kindly ways and character, your words, and deeds we commit to our memories. Your body we commit to be cremated, and its ashes returned to the earth which bears us all.