Morning Prayer: Thursday 20 March 2025

Thursday 20 March 2025

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

Cuthbert, Bishop, 687
Lent

Week 2 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

Psalm 52
1. You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness *
against the godly all day long?
2. You plot ruin; your tongue is like a sharpened razor, *
O worker of deception.
3. You love evil more than good *
and lying more than speaking the truth.
4. You love all words that hurt, *
O you deceitful tongue.
5. Oh, that God would demolish you utterly, *
topple you, and snatch you from your dwelling, and root you out of the land of the living!
6. The righteous shall see and tremble, *
and they shall laugh at you, saying,
7. “This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, *
but trusted in great wealth and relied upon wickedness.”
8. But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; *
I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9. I will give you thanks for what you have done *
and declare the goodness of your name in the presence of the godly.

Glory ...

Psalm 53

1. Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” *
All are corrupt and commit abominable acts; there is none who does any good.
2. God looks down from heaven upon us all, *
to see if there is any who is wise, if there is anyone who seeks after God.
3. Every one has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad; *
there is none who does good; no, not one.
4. Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, *
who eat up my people like bread and do not call upon God?
5. See how greatly they tremble, such trembling as never was; *
for God has scattered the bones of the enemy; they are put to shame, because God has rejected them.
6. Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come out of
Zion! *
When God restores the fortune of this people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.


Psalm 54

1. Save me, O God, by your name; *
in your might, defend my cause.
2. Hear my prayer, O God; *
give ear to the words of my mouth.
3. For the arrogant have risen up against me, and the ruthless have sought my life, *
those who have no regard for God.
4. Behold, God is my helper; *
it is the Lord who sustains my life.
5. Render evil to those who spy on me; *
in your faithfulness, destroy them.
6. I will offer you a freewill sacrifice *
and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7. For you have rescued me from every trouble, *
and my eye has seen the ruin of my foes.


Conclusion

Song of the Word of God Isaiah 55. 6-11

1. Seek the Lord while the Lord may be found,
call upon God who is near;

2. Let the wicked abandon their ways,*
and the unrighteous their thoughts;

3. Return to the Lord, who will have mercy;*
to our God, who will richly pardon.

4. ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,*
neither are your ways my ways’, says the Lord.

5. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,*
as the rain and the snow come down from above,*
and return not again but water the earth,

6. ‘Bringing forth life and giving growth,*
seed for sowing and bread to eat,

7. ‘So is my word that goes forth from my mouth;*
it will not return to me fruitless,

8. ‘But it will accomplish that which I purpose,*
and succeed in the task I gave it.’

Glory ...

O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you.

READING(S)

Jeremiah 4.9-10,19-28

On that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded. Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, “It shall be well with you”, even while the sword is at the throat!’


My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent;
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
Disaster overtakes disaster,
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my curtains in a moment.
How long must I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
‘For my people are foolish,
they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but do not know how to do good.’


I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
Because of this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
I have not relented nor will I turn back.

Romans 2.12-24

All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? You that boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’

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: If you hear God’s voice, * harden not your hearts.

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.

Glory ... (may be said by all)

Song of Zechariah Antiphon: If you hear God’s voice, * harden not your hearts.

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

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.