Morning Prayer: Thursday 3 April 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Week 4 of Lent
Lent
Week 4 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
My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
2. The sparrow has found her a house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young; *
by the side of your altars, O Lord of hosts, my Sovereign and my God.
3. Happy are they who dwell in your house! *
They will always be praising you.
4. Happy are the people whose strength is in you, *
whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way!
5. Those who go through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs, *
for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.
6. They will climb from height to height, *
and you, the God of gods, will reveal yourself in Zion.
7. Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; *
hearken, O God of Jacob.
8. Behold our defender, O God; *
and look upon the face of your anointed.
9. For one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room, *
and to stand at the threshold of the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
10. For you, Lord God, are both sun and shield; *
you will give grace and glory;
11. no good thing will you withhold, O Lord, *
from those who walk with integrity.
12. O Lord of hosts, *
happy are they who put their trust in you!
Glory ...
Conclusion
Song of Manasseh Manasseh 1a, 4, 6-7, 9a, 9c, 11-12, 14b, 15b
1. O Lord Almighty and God of our forebears,*
you who made heaven and earth in all their glory:
2. All things tremble with awe at your presence,*
before your great and mighty power.
3. Immeasurable and unsearchable is your promise of mercy,*
for you are God, Most High.
4. You are full of compassion and very merciful,*
and you relent at human suffering.
5. O God, according to your great goodness,*
you have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against you.
6. The sins I have committed against you,*
are more in number than the sands of the sea.
7. I am not worthy to look up and see the heavens,*
because of my many sins and iniquities.
8. And now my heart bows before you,*
imploring your kindness upon me.
9. Unworthy as I am, I know that you will save me,*
according to your great mercy.
10. For all the host of heaven sings your praise,*
and your glory is for ever and ever.
Glory ...
O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you.
READING(S)
Jeremiah 22.13-23
and his upper rooms by injustice;
who makes his neighbours work for nothing,
and does not give them their wages;
who says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house
with large upper rooms’,
and who cuts out windows for it,
panelling it with cedar,
and painting it with vermilion.
Are you a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
says the Lord.
But your eyes and heart
are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practising oppression and violence.
Therefore thus says the Lord concerning King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
They shall not lament for him, saying,
‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
‘Alas, lord!’ or ‘Alas, his majesty!’
With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried—
dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are crushed.
I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
This has been your way from your youth,
for you have not obeyed my voice.
The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and dismayed
because of all your wickedness.
O inhabitant of Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
pain as of a woman in labour!
Romans 8.12-27
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, * Father I have sinned against heaven and before you.
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. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, * Father I have sinned against heaven and before you.
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, grant that we, who are weighed down by our sins,may be relieved and encouraged by your grace;
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.
