MORNING PRAYER1: The PreparationO Lord, open our lips. And our mouth shall proclaim your praise. Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy, to you be praise and glory for ever! [In the darkness of our sin, your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance.] As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help, sustain us with your bountiful Spirit and open our lips to sing your praise, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Blessed be God for ever! Christ, though tempted like us, was without sin: O come, let us worship. - Opening Canticle: A Song of Penitence (From Psalm 51) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. And so you are justified when you speak* and upright in your judgement. [Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother’s womb. For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly. Purge me from my sin and I shall be pure; wash me and I shall be clean indeed. Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the body you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins* and blot out all my iniquities.] Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me. Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit. I shall teach your ways to the wicked, and sinners shall return to you. Deliver me from death, O God, and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness, O God of my salvation. Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice, but you take no delight in burnt-offerings. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. - The Opening PrayerThe night has passed and the day lies open before us; let us pray with one heart and mind: (Silence may be kept) As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and for ever. Amen. - 2: The Word of GodThe PsalmodyPsalm 3 Lord, how many adversaries I have! how many there are who rise up against me! How many there are who say of me, “There is no help for him in his God.” But you, O Lord, are a shield about me; you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head. I call aloud upon the Lord, and he answers me from his holy hill; I lie down and go to sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I do not fear the multitudes of people who set themselves against me all around. Rise up, O Lord; set me free, O my God; surely, you will strike all my enemies across the face, you will break the teeth of the wicked. Deliverance belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people! Psalm 6 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not punish me in your wrath. Have pity on me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are racked. My spirit shakes with terror; how long, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me for your mercy's sake. For in death no one remembers you; and who will give you thanks in the grave?I grow weary because of my groaning; every night I drench my bed and flood my couch with tears. My eyes are wasted with grief and worn away because of all my enemies. Depart from me, all evildoers, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be confounded and quake with fear; they shall turn back and suddenly be put to shame. Psalm 147:13-End Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion; For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. He has established peace on your borders; he satisfies you with the finest wheat. He sends out his command to the earth, and his word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes. He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; who can stand against his cold? He sends forth his word and melts them; he blows with his wind, and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and his judgments to Israel. He has not done so to any other nation; to them he has not revealed his judgments. Hallelujah! Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The First Lesson:If there are two Scripture Readings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the second canticle. Lam. 2:10-18 The elders of daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young girls of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom. What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you? Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen oracles for you that are false and misleading. All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at daughter Jerusalem; "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?" All your enemies open their mouths against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have devoured her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; at last we have seen it!" The Lord has done what he purposed, he has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago, he has demolished without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you, and exalted the might of your foes. Cry aloud to the Lord! O wall of daughter Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! Canticle 2: A Song of New Creation (Isaiah 43. 15-21)I will make a way in the wilderness,* and rivers in the desert. ‘I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, whom I have chosen.’ Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, ‘Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. ‘Behold, I make all things new; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? ‘I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, ‘The people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.’ Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. I will make a way in the wilderness,* and rivers in the desert. The Second Lesson:One or more readings appointed for the day are read. The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence. Mark 14:12-25 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, "Surely, not I?" He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born." While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." Gospel Canticle: The Benedictus (Isaiah 43. 15-21)You have given your people knowledge of salvation, O God,* by the forgiveness of their sins. Blessèd be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant, David. Through his holy prophets, he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us; He promised to show mercy to our forebears, and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father, Abraham, to set us free from the hands of our enemies, Free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight, all the days of our life. You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of all their
