Evening Prayer: Friday 21 March 2025

Friday 21 March 2025

This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.

Thomas Cranmer, Bishop, 1556
Lent

O God make speed to save us;
O Lord make haste to help us.

Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.
(Psalm 25.3)

Opening (from Psalm 25)

1. You are the God of my salvation;*
in you have I trusted all the day long.

2. Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,*
for they are from everlasting.

3. Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;*
remember me according to your love.

4. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,*
for my hope has been in you.

Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn

Psalm 58

1. Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers? *
Do you judge the peoples with equity?

2. No; you devise evil in your hearts, *
and your hands deal out violence in the land.

3. The wicked are perverse from the womb; *
liars go astray from their birth.

4. They are as venomous as a serpent, *
they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,

5. which does not heed the voice of the charmer, *
no matter how skillful the charming.

6. O God, break their teeth in their mouths; *
pull the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

7. Let them vanish like water that runs off; *
let them wither like trodden grass.

8. Let them be like the snail that melts away, *
like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

9. Before they bear fruit, let them be cut down like a brier; *
like thorns and thistles let them be swept away.

10. The righteous will be glad when they see the vengeance; *
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11. And they will say, “Surely, there is a reward for the righteous; *
surely, there is a God who rules in the earth.”

Glory …

Psalm 60

1. O God, you have cast us off and broken us; *
you have been angry; oh, take us back to you again.

2. You have shaken the earth and split it open; *
repair the cracks in it, for it totters.

3. You have made your people know hardship; *
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.

4. You have set up a banner for those who fear you, *
to be a refuge from the power of the bow.

5. Save us by your mighty hand and answer us, *
that those who are dear to you may be delivered.

6. You spoke from your holy dwelling and said: *
“I will exult and parcel out Shechem; I will divide the valley of Succoth.

7. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine; *
Ephraim is my helmet and Judah my sceptre.

8. Moab is my wash basin, on Edom I throw down my sandal to claim it, *
and over Philistia will I shout in triumph.”

9. Who will lead me into the strong city? *
Who will bring me into Edom?

10. Have you not cast us off, O God? *
you no longer go out, O God, with our armies.

11. Grant us your help against the enemy, *
for vain is the help of mortals.

12. With you we will do valiant deeds, *
and you shall tread our enemies under foot.

Conclusion

Romans 5

1. Now that we have been justified through faith,*
we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2. And so we exult in our hope of the splendour of God*
and we even exult in the sufferings we endure.

3. For our hope is not in vain,*
because God’s love has flooded our inmost hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

4. When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly;*
he died for us while we were still sinners, and so God’s love for us is revealed.

5. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us,*
for nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours, through Jesus Christ.

Glory …

Antiphon: Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.

READING(S)

John 5.30-47

‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’

Silence

Response (Psalm 86.15)

You, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion.
You, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion.
Slow to anger, full of kindness and truth.
Full of compassion.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
You, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion.

SONG OF MARY

Song of Mary Antiphon: If you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts. (Psalm 95.7)

1 My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
*my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
2 for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant;*
from this day all generations will call me blessed.
3 The Almighty has done great things for me*
and holy is his name.
4 He has mercy on those who fear him*
in every generation.
5 He has shown the strength of his arm;*
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
6 He has cast down the mighty from their thrones*
and has lifted up the lowly.
7 He has filled the hungry with good things,*
and the rich he has sent away empty.
8 He has come to the help of his servant Israel,*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
9 the promise he made to our forebears,*
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father... (may be said by all)

Song of Mary Antiphon: If you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts. (Psalm 95.7)

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

O God, you see that we lack the strength to help ourselves:
protect us both inwardly and outwardly;
that our bodies may be guarded from adversity,
and our minds may be defended from such thoughts
as assault and harm the soul;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen

Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity.
Amen.

Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!

The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing:
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.