¶ Morning Prayer
Easter Season
Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Preparation

O Lord, open our lips
Alland our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

In your resurrection, O Christ,
Alllet heaven and earth rejoice. Alleluia.

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 once you ransomed your people from Egypt
and led them to freedom in the promised land,
so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your risen Son.
May we, the first fruits of your new creation,
rejoice in this new day you have made,
and praise you for your mighty acts.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AllBlessed be God for ever.

a suitable hymn, or the Easter Anthems

1Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us: ♦
so let us celebrate the feast,

2not with the old leaven of corruption and wickedness: ♦
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5.7b, 8

3Christ once raised from the dead dies no more: ♦
death has no more dominion over him.

4In dying he died to sin once for all: ♦
in living he lives to God.

5See yourselves therefore as dead to sin: ♦
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6.9-11

6Christ has been raised from the dead: ♦
the first fruits of those who sleep.

7For as by man came death: ♦
by man has come also the resurrection of the dead;

8for as in Adam all die: ♦
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15.20-22

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 Word of God

Psalmody

The appointed psalmody is said.

Psalm 139

Refrain: Search me out, O God, and know my heart.

1 O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; ♦
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You mark out my journeys and my resting place ♦
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 For there is not a word on my tongue, ♦
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4 You encompass me behind and before ♦
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, ♦
so high that I cannot attain it. R

6 Where can I go then from your spirit? ♦
Or where can I flee from your presence?

7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; ♦
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning ♦
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there your hand shall lead me, ♦
your right hand hold me fast.

10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me ♦
and the light around me turn to night,’

11 Even darkness is no darkness with you;
the night is as clear as the day; ♦
darkness and light to you are both alike. R

12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; ♦
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

13 I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; ♦
marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.

14 My frame was not hidden from you, ♦
when I was made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15 Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished; ♦
already in your book were all my members written,

16 As day by day they were fashioned ♦
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How deep are your counsels to me, O God! ♦
How great is the sum of them!

18 If I count them, they are more in number than the sand, ♦
and at the end, I am still in your presence. R

19 O that you would slay the wicked, O God, ♦
that the bloodthirsty might depart from me!

20 They speak against you with wicked intent; ♦
your enemies take up your name for evil.

21 Do I not oppose those, O Lord, who oppose you? ♦
Do I not abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with a perfect hatred; ♦
they have become my own enemies also.

23 Search me out, O God, and know my heart; ♦
try me and examine my thoughts.

24 See if there is any way of wickedness in me ♦
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Refrain: Search me out, O God, and know my heart.

Creator God,
may every breath we take be for your glory,
may every footstep show you as our way,
that, trusting in your presence in this world,
we may, beyond this life, still be with you
where you are alive and reign
for ever and ever.

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.

Deuteronomy 9.23 - 10.5

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and occupy the land that I have given you’, you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, neither trusting him nor obeying him. You have been rebellious against the Lord as long as he has known you.

Throughout the forty days and forty nights that I lay prostrate before the Lord when the Lord intended to destroy you, I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy the people who are your very own possession, whom you redeemed in your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin, otherwise the land from which you have brought us might say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.” For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Carve out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you smashed, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. Then he wrote on the tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark that I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.

Canticle

The Song of Moses and Miriam, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 23 (page 574) or number 32 (page 583), may be said

Refrain:

AllIn your unfailing love, O Lord,
you lead the people whom you have redeemed. Alleluia.

1I will sing to the Lord, who has triumphed gloriously, ♦
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

2The Lord is my strength and my song ♦
and has become my salvation.

3This is my God whom I will praise, ♦
the God of my forebears whom I will exalt.

4The Lord is a warrior, ♦
the Lord is his name.

5Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power: ♦
your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

6At the blast of your nostrils, the sea covered them; ♦
they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

7In your unfailing love, O Lord, ♦
you lead the people whom you have redeemed.

8And by your invincible strength ♦
you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

9You will bring them in and plant them, O Lord, ♦
in the sanctuary which your hands have established.

Exodus 15.1b-3, 6, 10, 13, 17

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.

AllIn your unfailing love, O Lord,
you lead the people whom you have redeemed. Alleluia.

Scripture Reading

One or more readings appointed for the day are read.

The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence.

Ephesians 4.17-end

Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practise every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow

Death is swallowed up in victory.
AllWhere, O death, is your sting?
Christ is risen from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
AllDeath is swallowed up in victory.
The trumpet will sound
and the dead shall be raised.
AllWhere, O death, is your sting?
We shall not all sleep,
but we shall be changed.
AllDeath is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your sting?

from 1 Corinthians 15

Gospel Canticle

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) is normally said,
or The Song of Christ’s Glory (page 619) may be said

Refrain:

AllThe Lord is risen from the tomb
who for our sakes hung upon the tree. Alleluia.

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:

AllThe Lord is risen from the tomb
who for our sakes hung upon the tree. Alleluia.

Prayers

Intercessions are offered
¶ for the day and its tasks
¶ for the world and its needs
¶ for the Church and her life

Prayers may include the following concerns from the cycle on pages 364–365

¶ The people of God, that they may proclaim the risen Lord
¶ God’s creation, that the peoples of the earth may meet their responsibility to care
¶ Those in despair and darkness, that they may find the hope and light of Christ
¶ Those in fear of death, that they may find faith through the resurrection
¶ Prisoners and captives

A form of prayer found on page 382 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 God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
AllAmen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said

Rejoicing in God’s new creation,
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)

Rejoicing in God’s new creation,
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.

The Conclusion

May the risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
AllAmen.

Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
AllThanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.