Friday after Passion Sunday
Morning Prayer – The Suffering Christ
O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,*
and glorify your name for evermore. (Ps. 86.12)
Opening
VENITE
1 O come let us sing out to the Lord,*
let us shout in triumph to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving*
and cry out to him joyfully in psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great king above all gods.
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,*
and the peaks of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his and he made it;*
his hands moulded dry land.
6 Come let us worship and bow down,*
and kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he himself is our God;*
we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
8 Today if only you would hear his voice:*
‘Do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness;
9 when your fathers tested me;*
put me to proof though they had seen my works.
10 Of whom I swore in my wrath:*
“They shall not enter my rest.”’
Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)
or (from Psalm 86)
1 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord,*
nor anything like your works.
2 All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord,*
and glorify your name.
3 For you are great; you do wondrous things;*
and you alone are God.
4 Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;*
knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.
Glory to the Father…
or a suitable hymn
Psalm 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?*
and are so far from my cry
and from the words of my distress?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;*
by night as well, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are the Holy One,*
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4 Our forefathers put their trust in you;*
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 They cried out to you and were delivered;*
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
6 But as for me, I am a worm and no man,*
scorned by all and despised by the people.
7 All who see me laugh me to scorn;*
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8 ‘He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him;*
let him rescue him, if he delights in him.’
9 Yet you are he who took me out of the womb,*
and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.
10 I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born;*
you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near,*
and there is none to help.
12 Many young bulls encircle me;*
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13 They open wide their jaws at me,*
like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint;*
my heart within my breast is melting wax.
15 My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;*
and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.
16 Packs of dogs close me in,
and gangs of evildoers circle around me;*
they pierce my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
17 They stare and gloat over me;*
they divide my garments among them;
they cast lots for my clothing.
18 Be not far away, O Lord;*
you are my strength; hasten to help me.
19 Save me from the sword,*
my life from the power of the dog.
20 Save me from the lion’s mouth,*
my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.
21 I will declare your name to my brethren;*
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
22 Praise the Lord, you that fear him;*
stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
23 For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;
neither does he hide his face from them;*
but when they cry to him he hears them.
24 My praise is of him in the great assembly;*
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who
worship him.
25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the Lord shall praise him:*
‘May your heart live for ever!’
26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,*
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him .
27 For kingship belongs to the Lord;*
he rules over the nations.
28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;*
all who go down to the dust fall before him.
29 My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him;*
they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.
30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn*
the saving deeds that he has done.
Father, your tortured Son felt abandoned, and cried out in anguish from the cross, yet you delivered him. He overcame the bonds of death and rose in triumph from the grave. Do not hide your face from those who cry out to you: feed the hungry, strengthen the weak, and break the chains of the oppressed, that your people may rejoice in your saving deeds. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Conclusion (from Isaiah 42)
Behold my servant, whom I uphold*
my chosen, in whom
my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him*
he will bring forth justice to the nations:
He will not cry nor lift up his voice*
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break*
a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice*
he will not fail nor be discouraged,
till he has established justice in the earth*
and the coastlands wait for his law.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name for evermore.
READING(S)
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-13
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.
For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.
Romans 11:13-24
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry in order to make my own peoplejealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree,do not vaunt yourselves over the branches. If you do vaunt yourselves, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. You will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but God’s kindness towards you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Silence
Response (Ps. 119.123)
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
And for your righteous promise.
For your salvation.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
BENEDICTUS
Benedictus Antiphon: We proclaim Christ,* nailed to the cross. (cf 1 Cor 1.23)
1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,*
for he has come to his people and set them free.
2 He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,*
born of the house of his servant David.
3 Through his holy prophets he promised of old*
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us.
4 He promised to show mercy to our forebears,*
and to remember his holy covenant.
5 This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:*
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6 free to worship him without fear,*
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
7 You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,*
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8 to give his people knowledge of salvation*
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9 In the tender compassion of our God*
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,*
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)
Benedictus Antiphon: We proclaim Christ,* nailed to the cross. (cf 1 Cor 1.23)
PRAYERS
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Collect of the Day
Merciful God, look upon your family as we travel to the foot of the cross: and, by your great goodness, guide us in body; that, by your protection, we may also be preserved in heart and mind; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Amen.
God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!
The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;
and bring us to life eternal.
Amen.
