An Order Morning Prayer for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
Preparation
O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love,
according to your judgement give us life.
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.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
Hymn
1 Glory be to Jesus,
who, in bitter pains,
poured for me the life-blood
from his sacred veins.
2 Grace and life eternal
in that blood I find;
blest be his compassion
infinitely kind.
3 Blest through endless ages
be the precious stream,
which from endless torments
did the world redeem.
4 Abel's blood for vengeance
pleaded to the skies;
but the blood of Jesus
for our pardon cries.
6 Oft as it is sprinkled
on our guilty hearts,
Satan in confusion
terror-struck departs;
7 Oft as earth exulting
wafts its praise on high,
angel-hosts rejoicing
make their glad reply.
8 Lift ye then your voices;
swell the mighty flood;
louder still and louder
praise the precious blood.
Anonymous Italian translated Edward Caswall (1814-1878).
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.
Confession and self-reflection
Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.
Lord God,
we have sinned against you;
we have done evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your love.
Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.
Renew a right spirit within us
and restore us to the joy of your salvation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Word of God
Jeremiah 31.31–34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Psalm 51.1–13
1 Have mercy on me, O God, in your great goodness;
according to the abundance of your compassion
blot out my offences.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my faults
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
5 So that you are justified in your sentence
and righteous in your judgement.
6 I have been wicked even from my birth,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
7 Behold, you desire truth deep within me
and shall make me understand wisdom
in the depths of my heart.
8 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean;
wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness,
that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
10 Turn your face from my sins
and blot out all my misdeeds.
11 Make me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy spirit from me.
13 Give me again the joy of your salvation
and sustain me with your gracious spirit;
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 12.20–33
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
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
Crucifixus a 8 by Antonio Lotti
sung by St Martin’s Voices
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis;
sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est.
He was crucified also for us,
under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried.
Prayers
Which conclude with...
Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Trusting in the compassion of God,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
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
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.
1 Come, let us follow where our Captain trod,
our King victorious, Christ the Son of God.
2 O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
as thou hast promised, draw us unto thee.
3 Let every race and every language tell
of him who saves our souls from death and hell.
4 Set up thy throne, that earth's despair may cease
beneath the shadow of its healing peace.
5 For thy blest cross which doth for all atone
creation's praises rise before thy throne.
Michael Robert Newbolt (1874-1956), George William Kitchin (1827-1912)
© Holder untraced. .
The Conclusion
Christ give you grace to grow in holiness, to deny yourselves,
take up your cross, and follow him;
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
