Order of Service
Monday, 19th August 2024
17:00
Evensong
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.
During the Abbey Choir's vacation we welcome visiting choirs from the United Kingdom and beyond to lead the music at our services. Today's service is sung by the Healey Willan Singers.
Following the service, a collection will be taken; the money from today's services will be divided equally between the Commonwealth Forestry Association and the work of the Abbey. The Commonwealth Forestry Association exists to promote the conservation and sustainable management of the world's forests and the contributions they make to peoples' livelihoods.
Order of Service
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: William Smith (1603–45)
All sit. The choir sings Psalm 81
Sing we merrily unto God our strength : make a cheerful noise unto the God of Jacob.
Take the psalm, bring hither the tabret : the merry harp with the lute.
Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon : even in the time appointed, and upon our solemn feast-day.
For this was made a statute for Israel : and a law of the God of Jacob.
This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony : when he came out of the land of Egypt, and had heard a strange language.
I eased his shoulder from the burden : and his hands were delivered from making the pots.
Thou calledst upon me in troubles, and I delivered thee : and heard thee what time as the storm fell upon thee.
I proved thee also : at the waters of strife.
Hear, O my people, and I will assure thee, O Israel : if thou wilt hearken unto me,
there shall no strange god be in thee : neither shalt thou worship any other god.
I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt : open thy mouth wide, and I shall fill it.
All stand
Chants: James Turle (1802–82) Organist of Westminster Abbey 1831–82 and Joseph Barnby (1838–96)
All sit for the first Lesson, Isaiah 53: 1–9
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Here ends the first lesson.
All stand. The choir sings Magnificat
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
and holy is his name.
throughout all generations.
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
and hath exalted the humble and meek;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
hath holpen his servant Israel,
as he promised to our forefathers,
Abraham and his seed, for ever.
Evening Canticles in D, Charles Wood (1866–1926)
All sit for the second Lesson, Matthew 8: 14–22
When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, 'He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.'
Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. A scribe then approached and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' Another of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'
Here ends the second lesson.
All stand. The choir sings Nunc dimittis
according to thy word;
and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Evening Canticles in D, Charles Wood
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
Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire, or deserve; pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. 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: William Smith
All sit. The choir sings the Anthem
Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis
et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui
et spiritu principali confirma me.
Domine labia mea aperies
et os meum annunciabit laudem tuam.
Amen.
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. Amen.
Words: Psalm 51: 9, 12, 15
Music: Healey Willan (1880–1968)
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
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Common Worship (Church House Publishing, 2000), material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops' Council. Scripture Readings are from the New Revised Standard Version.
The Abbey is grateful for your support. Cash and contactless donations may be given as you leave via the Great West Door and will be divided equally between the work of the Abbey and the charities it supports.
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Today's Services
Monday, 19th August 2024 | ||
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World Humanitarian Day | ||
7.30am | Morning Prayer | Quire |
said | ||
8.00am | Holy Communion | St Faith's Chapel |
said | ||
12.30pm | Holy Communion | Nave |
said | ||
5.00pm | Evensong | Quire |
sung by the Healey Willan Singers | Smith Responses |
|
View Order of Service | ||