Morning Prayer: Saturday 19 April 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Holy Saturday
Lent
Holy Saturday
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:
Opening
Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn
(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 ...
or a suitable hymn
from one generation to another.
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or the land and the earth were born, *
from age to age you are God.
3. You turn us back to the dust and say, *
“Go back, O child of earth.”
4. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past *
and like a watch in the night.
5. You sweep us away like a dream; *
we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6. In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
7. For we consume away in your displeasure; *
we are afraid because of your wrathful indignation.
8. Our iniquities you have set before you, *
and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9. When you are angry, all our days are gone; *
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10. The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength even eighty; *
yet the sum of them is but labour and sorrow, for they pass away quickly and we are gone.
11. Who regards the power of your wrath? *
Who rightly fears your indignation?
12. So teach us to number our days *
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
13. Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry? *
Be gracious to your servants.
14. Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15. Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
and the years in which we suffered adversity.
16. Show your servants your works *
and your splendour to their children.
17. May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.
Glory ...
Conclusion
Lamentations 3
1. Remember my affliction and bitterness;*
the wormwood and the gall!
2. My soul continually thinks of it;*
and is bowed down within me.
3. But this I call to mind,*
and therefore I have hope –
4. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;*
God’s mercies never come to an end.
5. They are new every morning;*
great is God’s faithfulness.
6. ‘The Lord is my portion’, says my soul:*
‘therefore I will hope in God.’
Glory ...
O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you.
READING(S)
Job 19.21-27a
for the hand of God has touched me!
Why do you, like God, pursue me,
never satisfied with my flesh?
‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Hebrews 4.1-16
‘As in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest” ’,
though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’ And again in this place it says, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he sets a certain day—‘today’—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.’
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labours as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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. Destroy this temple * and in three days I will raise it up.
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. Destroy this temple * and in three days I will raise it up.
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, creator of heaven and earth:as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb,
and his soul descended to the dead;
so may we await with him the coming of the third day,
on which you raised him from the dead,
that we may rise with him to newness of life;
through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who now 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.
