Morning Prayer: Saturday 27 September 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Vincent de Paul, Priest, 1660
Season of Creation
Creation Week 3
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 created the heavens and spread out the earth You gave breath to all people and spirit to everything that lives. (Isaiah 42.5)
Opening
Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from (Psalm 24.1-4))
1. The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
2. for God has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
3. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in God’s holy place?
4. Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
Glory ...
or a suitable hymn
let me never be ashamed.
2. In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
incline your ear to me and save me.
3. Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
you are my crag and my stronghold.
4. Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5. For you are my hope, O Lord God, *
my confidence since I was young.
6. I have been sustained by you ever since I was born; from my mother’s womb you have been my strength;*
my praise shall be always of you.
7. I have become a portent to many; *
but you are my refuge and my strength.
8. Let my mouth be full of your praise *
and your glory all the day long.
9. Do not cast me off in my old age; *
forsake me not when my strength fails.
10. For my enemies are talking against me, *
and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together.
11. They say, “Go after and seize the one whom God has forsaken; *
because there is no one who will save.”
12. O God, be not far from me; *
come quickly to help me, O my God.
13. Let those who set themselves against me be put to shame and be disgraced; *
let those who seek to do me evil be covered with scorn and reproach.
14. But I shall always wait in patience, *
and shall praise you more and more.
15. My mouth shall recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long; *
though I cannot know the number of them.
16. I will begin with your mighty works, Lord God; *
I will recall your righteousness, yours alone.
17. O God, you have taught me since I was young, *
and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.
18. And now that I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me, *
till I make known your strength to this generation and your power to all who are to come.
19. Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; *
you have done great things; who is like you, O God?
20. You have showed me great troubles and adversities, *
but you will restore my life and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth.
21. You strengthen me more and more; *
you enfold and comfort me,
22. Therefore, I will praise you upon the lyre for your faithfulness, O my God; *
I will sing to you with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.
23. My lips will sing with joy when I play to you, *
and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
24. My tongue will proclaim your righteousness all day long, *
for they are ashamed and disgraced who sought to do me harm.
Glory ...
Conclusion
(Isaiah 24.4-7)
4. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth.
5. The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
6. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled, and few people are left.
7. The wine dries up, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
Glory ...
O God, you created the heavens and spread out the earth. You gave breath to all people and spirit to everything which lives.
READING(S)
2 Kings 11.1-20a
But in the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord; then he showed them the king’s son. He commanded them, ‘This is what you are to do: one-third of you, those who go off duty on the sabbath and guard the king’s house (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace; and your two divisions that come on duty in force on the sabbath and guard the house of the Lord shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be killed. Be with the king in his comings and goings.’
The captains did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to go off duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the sabbath, and came to the priest Jehoiada. The priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the Lord; the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house, to guard the king on every side. Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king, and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted, ‘Long live the king!’
When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people; when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, ‘Treason! Treason!’ Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, ‘Bring her out between the ranks, and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.’ For the priest said, ‘Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord.’ So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.
Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people; also between the king and the people. Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the Lord. He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings. So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king’s house.
1 Corinthians 7.10-24
To the rest I say—I and not the Lord—that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you. Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything. Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.
Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.
Silence
Response ((Proverbs 3.19-20))
By your wisdom, O Lord, you founded the earth and established the heavens;
By your wisdom, O Lord, you founded the earth and established the heavens;
By you knowledge the deeps broke open.
You founded the earth and established the heavens;
Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit.
By your wisdom, O Lord, you founded the earth and established the heavens.
SONG OF ZECHARIAH
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; * then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
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. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; * then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
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,in whose wisdom all things have been established in order:
enlighten the people you have saved,
that they may consider
the greater wonder of your new creation,
brought forth in the fullness of time,
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
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.
