Morning Prayer: Friday 2 January 2026

Friday 2 January 2026

This is the order for Daily Prayer as revised in 2006. You can find the 2024 revised Daily Prayer for today, authorised for experimental use, here.

Seraphim of Sarov, 1833
Incarnation

Friday after first Sunday after Christmas

O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Your justice Lord dawns like morning light; its dawning is as sure as the sunrise. (Hosea 6.3)

Opening

Venite

1 O come let us sing out to the Lord,*
let us shout in triumph to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving*
and cry out to him joyfully in psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great king above all gods.
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,*
and the peaks of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his and he made it;*
his hands moulded dry land.
6 Come let us worship and bow down,*
and kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he himself is our God;*
we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
8 Today if only you would hear his voice:*
‘Do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness;
9 when your fathers tested me;*
put me to proof though they had seen my works.
10 Of whom I swore in my wrath:*
“They shall not enter my rest.”’


Glory to the Father
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Psalm 85)

1 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying,*
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people.

2 Truly his salvation is very near to those who fear him,*
that his glory may dwell in our land.

3 Mercy and truth have met together;*
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

4 Truth shall spring up from the earth,*
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 2
1 Why are the nations in an uproar?*
Why do the peoples mutter empty threats?

2 Why do the kings of the earth rise up in revolt,
and the princes plot together,*
against the Lord and against his anointed?

3 ‘Let us break their yoke,’ they say;*
‘let us cast off their bonds from us.’

4 He whose throne is in heaven is laughing;*
the Lord has them in derision.

5 Then he speaks to them in his wrath,*
and his rage fills them with terror.

6 ‘I myself have set my king*
upon my holy hill of Zion.’

7 Let me announce the decree of the Lord;*
he said to me, ‘You are my Son;
this day have I begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for
your inheritance*
and the ends of the earth for your possession.

9 You shall crush them with an iron rod*
and shatter them like a piece of pottery.’

10 And now, you kings, be wise;*
be warned, you rulers of the earth.

11 Submit to the Lord with fear,*
and with trembling bow before him;

12 Lest he be angry and you perish;*
for his wrath is quickly kindled.

13 Happy are they all*
who take refuge in him!

Glory to the Father...

Ruler of heaven and earth, you sent your only Son into the world to be our Redeemer, and by raising him from the dead you gave him victory over all his enemies. Show us the power of your saving love and bring us to share in your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Conclusion

Isaiah 60

1 Arise, shine, for your light has come,*
the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

2 For behold darkness shall cover the earth,*
thick darkness the peoples;

3 but the Lord will arise upon you;*
God’s glory will be seen upon you.

4 Nations shall come to your light;*
kings to the brightness of your rising.

5 The sun shall be no more your light by day;*
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night;

6 but the Lord will be your everlasting light,*
your God will be your glory.

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon: Your justice Lord dawns like morning light, its dawning is as sure as the sunrise.

READING(S)

1 Kings 19.1-8

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Ephesians 4.1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ (When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Silence

Response Psalm (Psalm 119.130)

When your word goes forth it gives light.
When your word goes forth it gives light.
It gives understanding to the simple
It gives light.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
When your word goes forth it gives light.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon: To us is born this day a Saviour, Christ the Lord. (Luke 2.11)

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 to the Father... (may be said by all)

Benedictus antiphon: To us is born this day a Saviour, Christ the Lord. (Luke 2.11)

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 make us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ:
grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our Saviour,
so we may with confidence
behold him as he comes to be our Judge;
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.