An Order Morning Prayer for the Second Sunday before Lent
Preparation
O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Blessed are you, creator of all,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As your dawn renews the face of the earth
bringing light and life to all creation,
may we rejoice in this day you have made;
as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep,
open our eyes to behold your presence
and strengthen our hands to do your will,
that the world may rejoice and give you praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
Hymn
1 All creatures of our God and King
lift up your voice and with us sing
Alleluia, alleluia.
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
2 Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heaven along,
O praise him, alleluia.
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of evening, find a voice;
Chorus
3 Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for thy Lord to hear,
Alleluia, alleluia.
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
that givest hearts both warmth and light:
Chorus
4 Dear mother earth, who day by day
unfoldest blessings on our way,
O praise him, alleluia.
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,
let them his glory also show:
Chorus
5 Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship him in humbleness;
O praise him, alleluia.
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One;
Chorus
William Henry Draper (1855-1933)
based on Laudato sii, O me signore St Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun.
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.
Amen.
The Word of God
Proverbs 8.1,22–31
Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
Psalm 104.26–37
26 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
27 There is the sea, spread far and wide,
and there move creatures beyond number, both small and great.
28 There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan
which you have made to play in the deep.
29 All of these look to you
to give them their food in due season.
30 When you give it them, they gather it;
you open your hand and they are filled with good.
31 When you hide your face they are troubled;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return again to the dust.
32 When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
33 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works;
34 He looks on the earth and it trembles;
he touches the mountains and they smoke.
35 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will make music to my God while I have my being.
36 So shall my song please him
while I rejoice in the Lord.
37 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Alleluia.
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.
John 1.1–14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
The Benedictus
Now bless the God of Israel who comes in love and power,
who raises from the royal house deliv’rance in this hour.
Through holy prophets God has sworn to free us from alarm,
to save us from the heavy hand of all who wish us harm.
Remembering the covenant, God rescues us from fear,
that we might serve in holiness and peace from year to year.
And you, my child, shall go before, to preach, to prophesy,
that all may know the tender love, the grace of God most high.
In tender mercy, God will send the dayspring from on high,
our rising sun, the light of life for those who sit and sigh.
God comes to guide our way to peace,
that death shall reign no more.
Sing praises to the Holy One, O worship and adore.
To God the Father, fount of grace, through his beloved Son,
with God their Spirit, bond of love, be glory ever One.
Words: Ruth Duck
Reflection
Anthem
Fairest Lord Jesus – arr. Martin How
sung by St Martin’s Voices
Fairest Lord Jesus,
Lord of all creation
Jesus, of God and Mary the Son;
thee will I cherish,
thee will I honour,
O thou my soul's delight and crown.
Fair are the meadows
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the verdure and bloom of spring.
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer,
he makes the saddest heart to sing.
Fair are the flowers,
fairer still the sons of men.
in all the freshness of youth arrayed;
yet is their beauty
fading and fleeting;
my Jesus, thine will never fade.
Münster Gesangbuch (1677), Schoenster Herr Jesu, Herrscher alles Erden
Joseph Augustus Seiss (1823-1904), tr Lilian Sinclair Stevenson (1870-1960)
© Oxford University Press
Prayers
Which conclude with...
Collect for the Second Sunday before Lent
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our 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.
Hymn
1 O worship the King all glorious above;
O gratefully sing his power and his love;
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise.
2 O tell of his might, O sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
his chariots of wrath the deep thunder clouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm..
3 Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.
4 Frail children of dust and feeble as frail,
in thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail;
thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end!
our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.
5 O measureless might, ineffable love,
while angels delight to hymn thee above,
thy humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
with true adoration shall sing to thy praise.
William Kethe (fl.1559-1594), Robert Grant (1779-1838).
The Conclusion
The peace of God,
which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds
in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide
