Morning Prayer: Wednesday 12 March 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Week 1 of Lent
Lent
Week 1 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
it is good for the just to sing praises.
2. Praise the Lord with the harp; *
play to God upon the psaltery and lyre.
3. Sing for God a new song; *
sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.
4. For the word of the Lord is right,
and all the works of God are sure.
5. God loves righteousness and justice; *
the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth
6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, *
by the breath of God’s mouth all the heavenly hosts.
7. God gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a waterskin
*
and stores up the depths of the sea.
8. Let all the earth fear the Lord; *
let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of God.
9. For God spoke, and it came to pass; *
God commanded, and it stood fast.
10. The Lord brings the will of the nations to naught, *
thwarting the designs of the peoples.
11. But the will of the Lord stands fast for ever, *
and the designs of God’s heart from age to age.
12. Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, *
happy the people chosen to be God’s own.
13. The Lord looks down from heaven, *
and beholds all the people in the world.
14. Enthroned in the heavens God gazes *
on all who dwell on the earth,
15. fashioning all the hearts of them *
and understanding all their works.
16. There is no ruler that can be saved by a mighty army;*
the strong are not delivered by their great strength.
17. The horse is a vain hope for deliverance; *
for all its strength it cannot save.
18. Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,*
on those who wait upon your love,
19. to pluck their lives from death, *
and to feed them in time of famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord *
who is our help and our shield.
21. Indeed, our heart rejoices in God *
in whose holy name we put our trust.
22. Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, *
as we have put our trust in you.
Glory ...
Conclusion
Song of the New Creation Isaiah 43. 15-21
1. ‘I am the Lord, your Holy One,*
the Creator of Israel, whom I have chosen.’
2. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea,*
a path in the mighty waters,
3. ‘Remember not the former things,*
nor consider the things of old.
4. ‘Behold, I make all things new;*
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
5. I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,*
to give drink to my chosen people,
6. ‘The people whom I formed for myself,*
that they might declare my praise.’
Glory ...
O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you.
READING(S)
Deuteronomy 9.13-21
So I turned and went down from the mountain, while the mountain was ablaze; the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the Lord by doing what was evil in his sight. For I was afraid that the anger that the Lord bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time. Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust; and I threw the dust of it into the stream that runs down the mountain.
Hebrews 3.12-19
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’
Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? But with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
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. We shall not live by bread alone, * but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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. We shall not live by bread alone, * but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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,whose Son fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet did not sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in submission to your Spirit,
that, as you know our weakness,
so we may know your power to save;
through the same 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.
