Morning Prayer: Friday 28 March 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Patrick Forbes, Bishop, 1635, and the Aberdeen Doctors, Teachers of the Faith
Lent
Week 3 of Lent
O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
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.
Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you. (Psalm 63.1)
Opening
Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Psalm 63)
1. My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,*
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
2. For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;*
my lips shall give you praise.
3. For you have been my helper,*
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
4. My soul clings to you;*
your right hand holds me fast.
Glory ...
or a suitable hymn
Why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?
2. Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, *
the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance, and Mount Zion where you dwell.
3. Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; *
the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.
4. Your adversaries roared in your holy place; *
they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
5. They were like men coming up with axes *
to cut down a grove of trees;
6. they broke down all your carved work *
with hatchets and hammers.
7. They set fire to your holy place; *
they defiled the dwelling place of your name
and razed it to the ground.
8. They said to themselves, ”Let us destroy them altogether.” *
They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.
9. There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left; *
there is not one among us who knows how long.
10. How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? *
Will the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
11. Why do you draw back your hand? *
Why is your mighty hand hidden in your bosom?
12. Yet you are my sovereign from ancient times, *
victorious in the midst of the earth.
13. You divided the sea by your might *
and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;
14. You crushed the heads of Leviathan *
and gave it to the people of the desert for food.
15. You split open spring and torrent; *
you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16. Yours is the day, yours also the night; *
you established the moon and the sun.
17. You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; *
you made both summer and winter.
18. Remember, O Lord, how the enemy scoffed, *
how a foolish people despised your name.
19. Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; *
never forget the lives of your poor.
20. Look upon your covenant; *
the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.
21. Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; *
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22. Arise, O God, maintain your cause; *
remember how fools revile you all day long.
23. Forget not the clamour of your adversaries, *
the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.
Glory ...
Conclusion
Song of Humility Hosea 6. 1-6
1. Come, let us return to the Lord *
who has torn us and will heal us.
2. God has stricken us*
and will bind up our wounds.
3. After two days, God will revive us
and on the third day will raise us up, that we may live in God’s presence.
4. Let us humble ourselves;*
let us strive to know our God,
5. Whose justice dawns like the morning star;*
its dawning is as sure as the sunrise.
6. God’s justice will come to us like the showers,*
like the spring rains that water the earth.
7. ‘O Ephraim, how shall I deal with you?*
How shall I deal with you, O Jacob?
8. ‘Your love for me is like the morning mist,*
like the dew that goes early away.
9. ‘Therefore, I have spoken to them by the prophets,*
and my judgement goes forth as the light.
10. ‘For faithfulness is my desire and not sacrifice,*
and the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.’
Glory ...
O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you.
READING(S)
Jeremiah 11.1-8,14-20
And the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of an evil will. So I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.
As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done vile deeds? Can vows and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? The Lord once called you, ‘A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit’; but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.
It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.
But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!’
But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Romans 6.1-11
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Silence
Response ((Psalm 6.4))
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.
Save me for your mercy’s sake.
And deliver me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.
SONG OF ZECHARIAH
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. Lord, you are indeed the Saviour of the world. * Give us living water, that we may not thirst.
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.
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. Lord, you are indeed the Saviour of the world. * Give us living water, that we may not thirst.
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 Father,we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves:
when we are discouraged by our weakness,
give us strength to follow Christ, our pattern and our hope;
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.
