Morning Prayer: Saturday 26 April 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Saturday of Easter week
Easter
Saturday of Easter week
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: Christ has been raised from the dead:* the first fruits of those who sleep. (1 Corinthians 15-20)
Opening
Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Easter Anthems)
1. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;*
so let us celebrate the feast.
2. Not with the old leaven of corruption and wickedness,*
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
3. Christ once raised from the dead dies no more;*
death has no more dominion over him.
4. In dying, he died to sin once for all;*
in living, he lives to God.
5. See yourselves therefore as dead to sin,*
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
6. Christ has been raised from the dead,*
the first fruits of those who sleep.
7. For as by man came death,*
by man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
8. For as in Adam all die,*
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Glory ...
or a suitable hymn
and known me.
2. You know my sitting down and my rising up; *
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3. You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4. Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
5. You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
7. Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
Where can I flee from your presence?
8. If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
9. If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10. even there your hand will lead me *
and your mighty hand hold me fast.
11. If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, *
and the light around me turn to night.”
12. Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day; *
darkness and light to you are both alike.
13. For you yourself created my inmost parts; *
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14. I will thank you because I am marvellously made; *
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
15. My body was not hidden from you, *
while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth.
16. Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; * all of them were written in your book;
they were fashioned day by day, * when as yet there was none of them.
17. How deep I find your thoughts, O God! *
How great is the sum of them!
18. If I were to count them, * they would be more in number than the sand;
to count them all, * my life span would need to be like yours.
19. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God! *
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.
20. They speak despitefully against you; *
your enemies take your name in vain.
21. Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate you? *
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22. I hate them with a perfect hatred; *
they have become my own enemies.
23. Search me out, O God, and know my heart; *
try me and know my restless thoughts.
24. Look well whether there be any wickedness in me *
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
Glory ...
Conclusion
Wisdom 10
1. Wisdom freed a holy people and a blameless race,*
from a nation of oppressors.
2. She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,*
and withstood fearsome rulers with wonders and signs.
3. To the saints she gave the reward of their labours,*
and led them by a marvellous road.
4. She was their shelter by day,*
and a blaze of stars by night.
5. She brought them across the Red Sea;*
she led them through mighty waters.
6. She swallowed their enemies in the waves,*
and spat them out from the depths of the sea.
7. Then, Lord, the righteous sang the glories of your name,*
and praised together your protecting hand.
8. For wisdom opened the mouths of the silent*
and gave speech to the tongues of her children.
Glory ...
Christ has been raised from the dead:* the first fruits of those who sleep.
READING(S)
Isaiah 25.1-19
I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more,
it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
For you have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge to the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
the song of the ruthless was stilled.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place
as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it,
as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
their pride will be laid low despite the struggle of their hands.
The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down,
laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.
Acts 4.13-21
Silence
Response ((Psalm 96.4; 105.1))
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, alleluia, alleluia.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, alleluia, alleluia.
Make known God’s deeds among the nations.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, alleluia, alleluia.
SONG OF ZECHARIAH
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. The Lord is risen indeed,* * alleluia!
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. The Lord is risen indeed,* * alleluia!
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
Almighty God: in your great goodness,grant that we, as pilgrims through the Easter mysteries,
may hold them fast in our lives;
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.
