Psalm 8
O Lord our governor, ♦︎
how glorious is your name in all the world!
Your majesty above the heavens is praised ♦︎
out of the mouths of babes at the breast.
You have founded a stronghold against your foes, ♦︎
that you might still the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, ♦︎
the moon and the stars that you have ordained,
What is man, that you should be mindful of him; ♦︎
the son of man, that you should seek him out?
You have made him little lower than the angels ♦︎
and crown him with glory and honour.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands ♦︎
and put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen, ♦︎
even the wild beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea ♦︎
and whatsoever moves in the paths of the sea.
O Lord our governor, ♦︎
how glorious is your name in all the world!
Mark 10:2-16
Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’
Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Collect Prayer
O God, forasmuch as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer
Holy and blessed God,
you have fed us with the body and blood of your Son
and filled us with your Holy Spirit:
may we honour you,
not only with our lips
but in lives dedicated to the service
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved
Copyright material is included from, Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000) (including the Psalter as published with Common Worship); copyright © The Archbishop’s Council