Morning Prayer: Sunday 24 December 2023

Sunday 24 December 2023

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.

Christmas Eve
Festivals

Christmas Eve

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: The Lord is King, let the earth rejoice:* let the multitude of the isles be glad. Psalm 97.1

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 97)

1 You are the Lord, most high over all the earth;*
you are exalted far above all gods.
2 The Lord loves those who hate evil;*
he preserves the lives of his saints
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
3 Light has sprung up for the righteous,*
and joyful gladness for those who are truehearted.
4 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous.*
and give thanks to his holy name.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 89.1-18
1 Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing;*
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.

2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever;*
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.

3 ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one;*
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:

4 “I will establish your line for ever,*
and preserve your throne for all generations.”’

5 The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O Lord,*
and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;

6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?*
who is like the Lord among the gods?

7 God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones,*
great and terrible to all those round about him.

8 Who is like you, Lord God of hosts?*
O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.

9 You rule the raging of the sea*
and still the surging of its waves.

10 You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound;*
you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11 Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours;*
you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.

12 You have made the north and the south;*
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

13 You have a mighty arm;*
strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne;*
love and truth go before your face.

15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout!*
they walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence.

16 They rejoice daily in your name;*
they are jubilant in your righteousness.

17 For you are the glory of their strength,*
and by your favour our might is exalted.

18 Truly, the Lord is our ruler;*
the Holy One of Israel is our king.

Glory to the Father...

Remember us, gracious God, when we cannot see your way and purpose, and renew in us the joy of your kingdom of light and life. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Conclusion

Te Deum

a We praise you, O God;
we acclaim you as Lord.
b All creation worships you,
the Father everlasting.
a To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
the cherubim and seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might:
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
a The glorious company of apostles praise you,
the noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
b The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded;
your true and only Son, worthy of all praise:
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
a You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
b When you took our flesh to set us free
you humbly chose the Virgin’s womb.
a You overcame the sting of death
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
b You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come to be our judge.
Come then Lord and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting.

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon: The Lord is King, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad.

READING(S)

Baruch 4.36-5.9

Look towards the east, O Jerusalem, and see the joy that is coming to you from God. Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away; they are coming, gathered from east and west, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God. Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God. Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God; put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting; for God will show your splendour everywhere under heaven. For God will give you evermore the name, ‘Righteous Peace, Godly Glory’. Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height; look towards the east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them. For they went out from you on foot, led away by their enemies; but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory, as on a royal throne. For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God’s command. For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

Galatians 3.23-4.7

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Matthew 1.18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Silence

Response Psalm (89.1)

Lord I will sing of your loving kindnesses throughout all generations.
Lord I will sing of your loving kindnesses throughout all generations.
My mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
Throughout all generations.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Lord I will sing of your loving kindnesses throughout all generations.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne

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: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne

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

Stir up your power, Lord, and come:
and strengthen us by the might of your love;
that, although we are hindered by our sins,
your abundant grace and mercy may quickly come and save us;
for you live and reign with the Father,
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.