O Lord, open our lips
Alland our mouth shall
proclaim your praise.
Let your ways be known upon earth,
Allyour saving power among
the nations.
One or more of the following is said or sung:
this or another prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
your only Son was lifted up
that he might draw the whole world to himself.
May we walk this day in the way of the cross
and always be ready to share its weight,
declaring your love for all the world.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AllBlessed be God for ever.
a suitable hymn, or A Song of Lamentation
1Is it nothing to you,
all you who pass by? •
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
2Which was brought upon
me, •
which the Lord inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.
3For these things I weep;
my eyes flow with tears; •
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my courage.
4Remember my affliction
and my bitterness, •
the wormwood and the gall!
5But this I call to mind,
•
and therefore I have hope:
6The steadfast love of
the Lord never ceases, •
his mercies never come to an end;
7They are new every morning;
•
great is your faithfulness.
8‘The Lord is my
portion,’ says my soul, •
‘therefore I will hope in him.’
9The Lord is good to
those who wait for him, •
to the soul that seeks him.
10It is good that we
should wait quietly •
for the salvation of the Lord.
11For the Lord will not
reject for ever; •
though he causes grief, he will have compassion,
12According to the abundance
of his steadfast love; •
for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
Lamentations 1.12, 16a,b; 3.19, 21-26, 31-33
AllGlory 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.
This opening prayer may be said
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is 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.
AllAmen.
The appointed psalmody is said.
Refrain: Hide not your face from your servant, O Lord.
1 Save me, O God, •
for the waters have come up, even to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold; •
I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I have grown weary with crying; my throat is raw; •
my eyes have failed from looking so long for my God. R
4 Those who hate me without any cause •
are more than the hairs of my head;
5 Those who would destroy me are mighty; •
my enemies accuse me falsely:
must I now give back what I never stole?
6 O God, you know my foolishness, •
and my faults are not hidden from you.
7 Let not those who hope in you
be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts; •
let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me,
O God of Israel. R
8 For your sake have I suffered reproach; •
shame has covered my face.
9 I have become a stranger to my kindred, •
an alien to my mother’s children.
10 Zeal for your house has eaten me up; •
the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me. R
11 I humbled myself with fasting, •
but that was turned to my reproach.
12 I put on sackcloth also •
and became a byword among them.
13 Those who sit at the gate murmur against me, •
and the drunkards make songs about me. R
14 But as for me, I make my prayer to you, O Lord; •
at an acceptable time, O God.
15 Answer me, O God, in the abundance of your mercy •
and with your sure salvation.
16 Draw me out of the mire, that I sink not; •
let me be rescued from those who hate me
and out of the deep waters. R
17 Let not the water flood drown me,
neither the deep swallow me up; •
let not the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
18 Answer me, Lord, for your loving-kindness is good; •
turn to me in the multitude of your mercies.
19 Hide not your face from your servant; •
be swift to answer me, for I am in trouble. R
20 Draw near to my soul and redeem me; •
deliver me because of my enemies.
21 You know my reproach, my shame and my dishonour; •
my adversaries are all in your sight.
22 Reproach has broken my heart; I am full of heaviness. •
I looked for some to have pity, but there was no one,
neither found I any to comfort me.
23 They gave me gall to eat, •
and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink. R
24 Let the table before them be a trap •
and their sacred feasts a snare.
25 Let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot see, •
and give them continual trembling in their loins.
26 Pour out your indignation upon them, •
and let the heat of your anger overtake them.
27 Let their camp be desolate, •
and let there be no one to dwell in their tents. R
28 For they persecute the one whom you have stricken, •
and increase the sorrows of him whom you have pierced.
29 Lay to their charge guilt upon guilt, •
and let them not receive your vindication.
30 Let them be wiped out of the book of the living •
and not be written among the righteous. R
31 As for me, I am poor and in misery; •
your saving help, O God, will lift me up.
32 I will praise the name of God with a song; •
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
33 This will please the Lord more than an offering of oxen, •
more than bulls with horns and hooves.
34 The humble shall see and be glad; •
you who seek God, your heart shall live. R
35 For the Lord listens to the needy, •
and his own who are imprisoned he does not despise.
36 Let the heavens and the earth praise him, •
the seas and all that moves in them;
37 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; •
they shall live there and have it in possession.
38 The children of his servants shall inherit it •
and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
Refrain: Hide not your face from your servant, O Lord.
Thirsting on the cross,
your Son shared the reproach of the oppressed
and carried the sins of all;
in him, O God, may the despairing find you,
the afflicted gain life
and the whole creation know its true king,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Each psalm or group of psalms may end with
AllGlory 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.
If there are two Scripture readings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the canticle.
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt-offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.’ Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘Father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ He said, ‘The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?’ Abraham said, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt-offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.’
A Song of the Lord’s Gracious Deeds, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 23 (page 574), number 42 (page 593) or number 43 (page 594), may be said
Refrain:
AllI will recount the gracious
deeds of the Lord,
the praises of the Most High. Alleluia.
1Who is this that comes
from Edom, •
coming from Bozrah, his garments stained crimson?
2Who is this in glorious
apparel, •
marching in the greatness of his strength?
3‘It is I, who
announce that right has won the day, •
it is I,’ says the Lord, ‘for I am mighty to save.’
4Why are your robes all
red, O Lord, •
and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?
5‘I have trodden
the winepress alone, •
and from the peoples no one was with me.’
6I will recount the gracious
deeds of the Lord, •
the praises of the Most High;
7All that God has done
for us in his mercy, •
by his many acts of love.
8For God said, ‘Surely,
they are my people,
my children who will not deal falsely,’ •
and he became their Saviour in all their distress.
9So God redeemed them
by his love and pity; •
he lifted them up and carried them
through all the days of old.
Isaiah 63.1-3a, 7-9
AllGlory 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.
AllI will recount the gracious
deeds of the Lord,
the praises of the Most High. Alleluia.
One or more readings appointed for the day are read.
The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence.
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.
Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshippers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?
But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God”
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’
When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law),
then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;
Allby your holy cross,
you have redeemed the world.
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
AllWe adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you.
We preach Christ crucified,
the power of God and the wisdom of God.
AllBy your holy cross,
you have redeemed the world.
God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
AllWe adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you;
by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
cf 1 Corinthians 1 and Galatians 6
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) is normally said,
or Saviour of the World (page
644) may be said
Refrain:
AllOver his head, they put the charge against him:
this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
1Blessed be the Lord
the God of Israel, •
who has come to his people and set them free.
2He has raised up for
us a mighty Saviour, •
born of the house of his servant David.
3Through his holy prophets
God promised of old •
to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us,
4To show mercy to our
ancestors, •
and to remember his holy covenant.
5This was the oath God
swore to our father Abraham: •
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6Free to worship him
without fear, •
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
7And you, child, shall
be called the prophet of the Most High, •
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8To give his people knowledge
of salvation •
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9In the tender compassion
of our God •
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10To shine on those who
dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, •
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1.68-79
AllGlory 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.
Refrain:
AllOver his head, they put the charge against him:
this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
Intercessions are offered
¶ for the day and its tasks
¶ for the world and its needs
¶ for the Church and her life
The cycle on pages 364–365 and the prayer on page 377 may be used.
These responses may be used
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer
(or)
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
Silence may be kept.
The Collect of the day is said
Almighty Father,
look with mercy on this your family
for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed
and given up into the hands of sinners
and to suffer death upon the cross;
who is alive and glorified with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
AllAmen.
The Lord’s Prayer is said
Standing at the foot of the cross,
as our Saviour taught us, so we pray
AllOur 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.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
(or)
Standing at the foot of the cross,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
AllOur Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
May Christ, who bore our sins on the cross,
set us free to serve him with joy.
AllAmen.
Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
AllThanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.
Implemented by Simon Kershaw at
Crucix.
Implementation copyright © Simon Kershaw, 2002-2011.