Welcome to Westminster Abbey. Daily prayer has been offered in this place for over a thousand years, and your participation in today's service is warmly welcomed.

The service always includes one or more psalms. These ancient prayers, taken from the Old Testament, reflect the full range of human emotions and experiences; from the depths of anger, resentment, and abandonment to the heights of ecstatic joy and praise. They were used by Jesus, and have always been at the heart of the Church's daily prayer.

The canticles Magnificat (Luke 1: 46–55) and Nunc dimittis (Luke 2: 29–32) reflect two responses to the Incarnation (God becoming fully human in Jesus Christ). Both speak of the fulfilment of God's promises, not just to 'Abraham and his seed', but also 'to be a light to lighten the Gentiles' (all nations). With their themes of fulfilment and completion, these texts have been given central place for many centuries in the Church's prayers for the evening and at the end of the day.

Please join in saying the words printed in bold type.

The church is served by a hearing loop. Users should turn their hearing aid to the setting marked T.

Photography, filming, and sound recording are not allowed in the Abbey during services. Please ensure that mobile telephones and other electronic devices are silent.

Following the service a collection will be taken; the money from today's services will be divided equally between The Honeypot Children's Charity and the work of the Abbey. Honeypot works to enhance the lives of young carers aged 5–12 years by providing respite breaks and ongoing outreach support.

Order of Service

All stand as the clergy enter

The officiant says a sentence of Scripture

All remain standing as the officiant introduces the Confession

Beloved, we are come together in the presence of Almighty God and of the whole company of heaven to offer unto him through our Lord Jesus Christ our worship and praise and thanksgiving; to make confession of our sins; to pray, as well for others as for ourselves, that we may know more truly the greatness of God's love and show forth in our lives the fruits of his grace; and to ask on behalf of all people such things as their well-being doth require. Wherefore let us sit or kneel and keep silence, and remember God's presence with us now.

All kneel or sit to say together

O God, our Father,
we have sinned against thee
in thought, word, and deed;
we have not loved thee with all our heart;
we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves.
Have mercy upon us, we beseech thee;
cleanse us from our sins;
and help us to overcome our faults;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The officiant gives the Absolution

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant unto you pardon and remission of all your sins, time for amendment of life, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All stand to say the Responses

All sit to say Psalm 105

O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his name :
tell the people what things he hath done.
O let your songs be of him, and praise him :
and let your talking be of all his wondrous works.
Rejoice in his holy name :
let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord and his strength :
seek his face evermore.
Remember the marvellous works that he hath done :
his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth,
O ye seed of Abraham his servant :
ye children of Jacob his chosen.
He is the Lord our God :
his judgements are in all the world.
He hath been alway mindful of his covenant and promise :
that he made to a thousand generations;
even the covenant that he made with Abraham :
and the oath that he sware unto Isaac;
and appointed the same unto Jacob for a law :
and to Israel for an everlasting testament;
saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan :
the lot of your inheritance;
when there were yet but a few of them :
and they strangers in the land;
what time as they went from one nation to another :
from one kingdom to another people;
he suffered no man to do them wrong :
but reproved even kings for their sakes;
Touch not mine Anointed :
and do my prophets no harm.
Moreover, he called for a dearth upon the land :
and destroyed all the provision of bread.
But he had sent a man before them :
even Joseph, who was sold to be a bond-servant;
whose feet they hurt in the stocks :
the iron entered into his soul;
until the time came that his cause was known :
the word of the Lord tried him.
The king sent, and delivered him :
the prince of the people let him go free.
He made him lord also of his house :
and ruler of his substance;
that he might inform his princes after his will :
and teach his senators wisdom.
Israel also came into Egypt :
and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham.
And he increased his people exceedingly :
and made them stronger than their enemies;
whose heart turned, so that they hated his people :
and dealt untruly with his servants.
Then sent he Moses his servant :
and Aaron whom he had chosen.
And these shewed his tokens among them :
and wonders in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness, and it was dark :
and they were not obedient unto his word.
He turned their waters into blood :
and slew their fish.
Their land brought forth frogs :
yea, even in their kings' chambers.
He spake the word, and there came all manner of flies :
and lice in all their quarters.
He gave them hail-stones for rain :
and flames of fire in their land.
He smote their vines also and fig-trees :
and destroyed the trees that were in their coasts.
He spake the word, and the grasshoppers came, and caterpillars innumerable :
and did eat up all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.
He smote all the first-born in their land :
even the chief of all their strength.
He brought them forth also with silver and gold :
there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
Egypt was glad at their departing :
for they were afraid of them.
He spread out a cloud to be a covering :
and fire to give light in the night-season.
At their desire he brought quails :
and he filled them with the bread of heaven.
He opened the rock of stone, and the waters flowed out :
so that rivers ran in the dry places.
For why? he remembered his holy promise :
and Abraham his servant.
And he brought forth his people with joy :
and his chosen with gladness;
and gave them the lands of the heathen :
and they took the labours of the people in possession;
that they might keep his statutes :
and observe his laws.

All remain seated for the first Lesson, Isaiah 26: 1–19

This song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
   he sets up victory
   like walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
   so that the righteous nation that keeps faith
   may enter in.
Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—
   in peace because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
   for in the Lord God
   you have an everlasting rock.
For he has brought low
   the inhabitants of the height;
   the lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
   casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it,
   the feet of the poor,
   the steps of the needy.

The way of the righteous is level;
   O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
In the path of your judgements,
   O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and your renown
   are the soul's desire.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
   my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgements are in the earth,
   the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
If favour is shown to the wicked,
   they do not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness they deal perversely
   and do not see the majesty of the Lord.
O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
   but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
   Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
   for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
O Lord our God,
   other lords besides you have ruled over us,
   but we acknowledge your name alone.
The dead do not live;
   shades do not rise—
because you have punished and destroyed them,
   and wiped out all memory of them.
But you have increased the nation, O Lord,
   you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
   you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

O Lord, in distress they sought you,
   they poured out a prayer
   when your chastening was on them.
Like a woman with child,
   who writhes and cries out in her pangs
   when she is near her time,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
   we were with child, we writhed,
   but we gave birth only to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
   and no one is born to inhabit the world.
Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.
   O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a radiant dew,
   and the earth will give birth to those long dead.

Here ends the first lesson.

All stand to say Magnificat

All sit for the second Lesson, John 20: 1–10

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.' Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Here ends the second lesson.

All stand to say Nunc dimittis

All face east to say together the Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth:
and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Let us pray.

All kneel or sit for the Lesser Litany; the Lord's Prayer and the Responses

Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

The officiant says the Collects; of the day, for peace, and for aid against all perils

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; we humbly beseech thee, that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Lighten our darkness we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The officiant says the Prayers; for the Royal Family, and for the Members of the Order of the Bath

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless our most gracious Sovereign Lord King Charles, Queen Camilla, William Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and all the Royal Family: endue them with thy Holy Spirit; enrich them with thy heavenly grace; prosper them with all happiness; and bring them to thine everlasting kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God save our Gracious Sovereign, and all the Members of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath living and departed. Amen.

All remain kneeling or seated for the Intercessions, at the end of which all say

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore.
Amen.

All stand as the clergy depart

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