Morning Prayer on Sunday
Sunday, 31 May 2026
Trinity Sunday

Preparation

O Lord, open our lips
Alland 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.
AllBlessed be God for ever.

after Lancelot Andrewes (1626)

Benedicite – a Song of Creation (shorter version)

1Bless the Lord all you works of the Lord: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

2Bless the Lord you heavens: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

3Bless the Lord you angels of the Lord: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

4Bless the Lord all people on earth: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

5O people of God bless the Lord: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

6Bless the Lord you priests of the Lord: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

7Bless the Lord you servants of the Lord: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

8Bless the Lord all you of upright spirit: ♦
bless the Lord you that are holy and humble in heart.

The Song of the Three 35-37, 60-65

AllBless the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: ♦
sing his praise and exalt him for ever.

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

Psalm 8

How Majestic Is Your Name

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

8 O Lord, our Lord,
 how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
²  Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
 to still the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
 the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
 and the son of man that you care for him?

⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
 and crowned him with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
 you have put all things under his feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
 and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
 whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord,
 how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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.

Open our ears, glorious Lord Christ,
to hear the music of your voice
above the chaos of this world;
open our eyes to see the vision of your glory,
for you are our King, now and for ever.

Old Testament Reading

Isaiah 40: 9 to the end

⁹ Get you up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
    lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
    ‘Here is your God!’
¹⁰ See, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.
¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead the mother sheep.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
    and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,
    and weighed the mountains in scales
    and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who has directed the spirit of the Lord,
    or as his counsellor has instructed him?
¹⁴ Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
    and who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge,
    and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵ Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and are accounted as dust on the scales;
    see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
    nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him;
    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God,
    or what likeness compare with him?
¹⁹ An idol? —A workman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
    and casts for it silver chains.
²⁰ As a gift one chooses mulberry wood
    —wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
    to set up an image that will not topple.

²¹ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to live in;
²³ who brings princes to naught,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵ To whom then will you compare me,
    or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
    calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
    mighty in power,
    not one is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God’?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹ but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
    they shall walk and not faint.

Canticle

Refrain:

AllYou sent forth your Spirit, O God,
and you continue to show mercy to all.

1I will sing a new song to my God, ♦
for you are great and glorious,
truly strong and invincible.

2May your whole creation serve you, ♦
for you spoke and all things came to be.

3You sent forth your Spirit and they were formed, ♦
for no one can resist your voice.

4Mountains and seas are stirred to their depths; ♦
at your presence rocks shall melt like wax.

5But to those who fear you, ♦
you continue to show mercy.

6No sacrifice, however fragrant, can please you, ♦
but whoever fears the Lord
shall stand in your sight for ever.

Judith 16.13-16

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.

AllYou sent forth your Spirit, O God,
and you continue to show mercy to all.

New Testament Reading

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Final Greetings and Benediction

¹¹ Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

¹³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion ofthe Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead
AllAnd Christ shall give you light.
You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God.
AllAwake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on the earth.
AllAnd Christ shall give you light.
When Christ our life appears you will appear with him in glory.
AllAwake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give you light.

from Colossians 3

Gospel Reading

Matthew 28:16-20

The Commissioning of the Disciples

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Gospel Canticle

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) 

Refrain:

AllHoly, holy, holy, is the God of hosts;
who was, and who is, and who is to come.

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:

AllHoly, holy, holy, is the God of hosts;
who was, and who is, and who is to come.

Prayers

The Collect of the day is said

Almighty and eternal God,

you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:

hold us firm in this faith,

that we may know you in all your ways

and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,

who are three Persons yet one God,

now and for ever.
AllAmen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said

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

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.
AllAmen.

Let us bless the Lord.
AllThanks be to God.