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. At choral Evensong most of the service is sung by the choir on our behalf. We participate through our presence and our listening, that the words and the music might become a prayer within us and lift us to contemplate God's beauty and glory.

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.

The service is sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey.

Following the service a collection will be taken; the money from today's services will be divided equally between The Passage and the work of the Abbey. The vision of The Passage is of a society where street homelessness no longer exists, and everyone has a place to call home.

Order of Service

The choir sings the Introit

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills—
   from whence cometh my help?
My help cometh even from the Lord,
   who hath made heaven and earth.

The Lord himself is thy keeper;
   the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand;
so that the sun shall not burn thee by day,
   neither the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve
   thy going out and thy coming in
   from this time forth for evermore.

Words: Psalm 121: 1–2, 5–6, 8
Music: Philip Ledger (1937–2012)

All stand as the choir and clergy enter

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 say together the Lord's Prayer

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.

All stand. The officiant and choir sing the Responses

Music: Kenneth Leighton (1929–88)

All sit. The choir sings Psalm 106: 1–14, 43–end

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious : and his mercy endureth for ever.
Who can express the noble acts of the Lord : or shew forth all his praise?
Blessed are they that alway keep judgement : and do righteousness.
Remember me, O Lord, according to the favour that thou bearest unto thy people : O visit me with thy salvation;
that I may see the felicity of thy chosen : and rejoice in the gladness of thy people, and give thanks with thine inheritance.
We have sinned with our fathers : we have done amiss, and dealt wickedly.
Our fathers regarded not thy wonders in Egypt, neither kept they thy great goodness in remembrance : but were disobedient at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
Nevertheless, he helped them for his name's sake : that he might make his power to be known.
He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up : so he led them through the deep, as through a wilderness.
And he saved them from the adversary's hand : and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
As for those that troubled them, the waters overwhelmed them : there was not one of them left.
Then believed they his words : and sang praise unto him.
But within a while they forgat his works : and would not abide his counsel.
But lust came upon them in the wilderness : and they tempted God in the desert.
Nevertheless, when he saw their adversity : he heard their complaint.
He thought upon his covenant, and pitied them, according unto the multitude of his mercies : yea, he made all those that led them away captive to pity them.
Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen : that we may give thanks unto thy holy name, and make our boast of thy praise.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and world without end : and let all the people say, Amen.

All stand

Chants: Hubert Parry (1848–1918), and after Henry Purcell (1659–95) Organist of Westminster Abbey 1679–95

All sit for the first Lesson, Habakkuk 3: 1–19a

A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.

O Lord, I have heard of your renown,
   and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
In our own time revive it;
   in our own time make it known;
   in wrath may you remember mercy.
God came from Teman,
   the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His glory covered the heavens,
   and the earth was full of his praise.
The brightness was like the sun;
   rays came forth from his hand,
   where his power lay hidden.
Before him went pestilence,
   and plague followed close behind.
He stopped and shook the earth;
   he looked and made the nations tremble.
The eternal mountains were shattered;
   along his ancient pathways
   the everlasting hills sank low.
I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction;
   the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
   Or your anger against the rivers,
   or your rage against the sea,
when you drove your horses,
   your chariots to victory?
You brandished your naked bow,
   sated were the arrows at your command.
   You split the earth with rivers.
The mountains saw you, and writhed;
   a torrent of water swept by;
the deep gave forth its voice.
   The sun raised high its hands;
the moon stood still in its exalted place,
   at the light of your arrows speeding by,
   at the gleam of your flashing spear.
In fury you trod the earth,
   in anger you trampled nations.
You came forth to save your people,
   to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house,
   laying it bare from foundation to roof.
You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors,
   who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,
   gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
You trampled the sea with your horses,
   churning the mighty waters.

I hear, and I tremble within;
   my lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters into my bones,
   and my steps tremble beneath me.
I wait quietly for the day of calamity
   to come upon the people who attack us.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
   and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
   and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
   and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
   I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and makes me tread upon the heights.

Here ends the first lesson.

All stand. The choir sings Magnificat

Truro Service, Gabriel Jackson (b 1962)

All sit for the second Lesson, 1 Corinthians 4: 9–16

I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.

Here ends the second lesson.

All stand. The choir sings Nunc dimittis

Truro Service, Gabriel Jackson

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. The officiant and choir sing 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 sings the Collects; of the day, for peace, and for aid against all perils

O Lord, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. 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.

Music: Kenneth Leighton

All sit. The choir sings the Anthem

Sing for the morning's joy, Cecilia, sing,
In words of youth and phrases of the Spring,
Walk the bright colonnades by fountains' spray,
And sing as sunlight fills the waking day;
Till angels, voyaging in upper air
Pause on a wing and gather the clear sound
Into celestial joy, wound and unwound,
A silver chain, or golden as your hair.

Sing for your loves of heaven and of earth,
In words of music, and each word a truth;
Marriage of heart and longings that aspire,
A bond of roses, and a ring of fire.
Your summertime grows short and fades away,
Terror must gather to a martyr's death;
But never tremble, the last indrawn breath
Remembers music as an echo may.

Through the cold aftermath of centuries
Cecilia's music dances in the skies,
Lend us a fragment of the immortal air,
That with your choiring angels we may share,
A word to light us thro' time-fettered night,
Water of life, or rose of paradise
So from the earth another song shall rise
To meet your own in heaven's long delight.

Words: 'A Hymn for St Cecilia' Ursula Vaughan Williams (1911–2007)
Music: Herbert Howells (1892–1983)

All kneel or remain seated for the Intercessions

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 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 choir and clergy depart

Those who wish to may sit for the remainder of the organ voluntary

CHORISTERSHIPS AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Enquiries are welcomed at any time. 

If you have a daughter aged 10 or 11 who would like to sing with the St Margaret's Choristers, please contact the Director of Music at St Margaret's, Greg Morris (email). Further details can be found here.

If you have a son who enjoys singing and you would like further details of the world-renowned Abbey Choir and its unique choir school, please click here.

Mr Mark Mitchell, Acting Headmaster, Westminster Abbey Choir School, Dean's Yard, London, SW1P 3NY, 020 7222 6151 email

Mr Andrew Nethsingha, Organist and Master of the Choristers, The Chapter Office, 20 Dean's Yard, London, SW1P 3PA, 020 7654 4854 email

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