Rites of Passage - Suggested Readings for Marriages

The Parish Church of St James St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)

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Suggested Readings for Marriages

Old Testament Readings

Genesis 1 vv 26-28, v 31
"A Reading from the Book of Genesis...

God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image,
according to our likeness;
and let them have dominion over the fish in the sea,
and over the birds in the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the wild animals of the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth'.

So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them,
'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;
and have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air
and over every living thing that moves upon the earth'.
God saw everything that he had made,
and indeed, it was very good.

This is the Word of the Lord."

Jeremiah 31 vv 31-32, 33-34
"A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah...

'The days are coming', says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt.

But this is the covenant
which I will make with the house of Israel
after those days', says the Lord.
'I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts,
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the Lord.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me', says the Lord.

This is the Word of the Lord."

Jeremiah 31 vv 31-32, 33-34
"A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah...

'The days are coming', says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt.
But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days', says the Lord.
'I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the Lord.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me', says the Lord.

This is the Word of the Lord."

Song of Solomon 8 vv 6-7
"A Reading from the Song of Solomon...

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm:
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.

If one offered for love
all the wealth of one's house,
it would be utterly scorned.

This is the Word of the Lord."

New Testament Readings

John 15 vv 9-12
"A Reading from the holy Gospel according to John...

Jesus said to his disciples:
'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you;
abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love,
just as I have kept my Father's commandments
and abide in his love.

I have said these things to you
so that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be complete.
This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you.'

This is the Word of the Lord."

1 John 4 vv 7-12
"A Reading from the first letter of John...

Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten of God and has knowledge of God. The one without love has known nothing of God, for God is love.
God's love was revealed in our midst in this way: he sent his only son to the world that we might have life through him. Love, then, consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and has sent his son as an offering for our sins.
Beloved, if God has loved us so, we must have the same love for one another.
No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another God dwells in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is the Word of the Lord."

Romans 12 vv 1-2, vv 9-18
"A Reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans...

Brothers and sisters, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect. Your love must be sincere. Detest what is evil, cling to what is good.

Love one another with the affection of brothers and sisters. Anticipate each other in showing respect. Do not grow slack but be fervent in spirit; he whom you serve is the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, be patient under trial, persevere in prayer. Look on the needs of the saints as your own,
be generous in offering hospitality.

Bless your persecutors; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same attitude towards all.

Put away ambitious thoughts associate with those who are lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay injury with injury. See that your conduct is honourable in the eyes of all. If possible, live peaceably with everyone.

This is the Word of the Lord."

1 Corinthians 12 vv 31-13 v8, v13
"A Reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians...

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels,
but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away all my possessions,
and if I hand over my body to be burned,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind.
Love is not envious, or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Love never ends.

But as for prophecies, they will come to an end;
as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
So faith, hope love abide these three;
and the greatest of these is love.

This is the Word of the Lord."

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