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 Matins 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.

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 Westminster Abbey Special Service Choir.

Following the service, a collection will be taken; the money from today's services will be divided equally between St George's College Jerusalem and the work of the Abbey. St George's College Jerusalem is the Anglican centre for pilgrimage, education, hospitality, and reconciliation in the Holy Land.

Order of Service

All stand as the choir and clergy enter

The officiant says a Sentence of Scripture

The officiant and choir sing the Responses

Music: Richard Ayleward (1626–69)

All sit. The choir sings Venite exultemus Domino

All remain seated. The choir sings Psalm 10: 1–6, 17–end

Why standest thou so far off, O Lord : and hidest thy face in the needful time of trouble?
The ungodly for his own lust doth persecute the poor : let them be taken in the crafty wiliness that they have imagined.
For the ungodly hath made boast of his own heart's desire : and speaketh good of the covetous, whom God abhorreth.
The ungodly is so proud, that he careth not for God : neither is God in all his thoughts.
His ways are alway grevious : thy judgements are far above out of his sight, and therefore defieth he all his enemies.
For he hath said in his heart, Tush, I shall never be cast down : there shall no harm happen unto me.
Break thou the power of the ungodly and malicious : take away his ungodliness, and thou shalt find none.
The Lord is King for ever and ever : and the heathen are perished out of the land.
Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the poor : thou preparest their heart, and thine ear hearkeneth thereto;
to help the fatherless and poor unto their right : that the man of the earth be no more exalted against them.

All stand

Chant: plainsong

All sit for the first Lesson, Isaiah 48: 12–end

Listen to me, O Jacob,
   and Israel, whom I called:
I am He; I am the first,
   and I am the last.
My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
   and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
   they stand at attention.

Assemble, all of you, and hear!
   Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
   he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
   and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken and called him,
   I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
Draw near to me, hear this!
   From the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
   from the time it came to be I have been there.
And now the Lord God has sent me and his spirit.

Thus says the Lord,
   your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God,
   who teaches you for your own good,
   who leads you in the way you should go.
O that you had paid attention to my commandments!
   Then your prosperity would have been like a river,
   and your success like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand,
   and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
   or destroyed from before me.

Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,
   declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it forth to the end of the earth;
   say, 'The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!'
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
   he made water flow for them from the rock;
   he split open the rock and the water gushed out.

'There is no peace', says the Lord, 'for the wicked.'

Here ends the first lesson.

All stand. The choir sings Te Deum laudamus

The Third Service, Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656)

All sit for the second Lesson, Luke 11: 37–end

While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, 'Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

'But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.'

One of the lawyers answered him, 'Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.' And he said, 'Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute", so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.'

When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Here ends the second lesson.

All stand. The choir sings Jubilate Deo

O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands.
   Serve the Lord with gladness;
   and come before his presence with a song.

Be ye sure that the Lord he is God.
   It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving,
   and into his courts with praise.
   Be thankful unto him, and speak good of his name.

For the Lord is gracious;
   his mercy is everlasting,
   and his truth endureth from generation to generation.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Chant: Thomas Tomkins

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, for Grace:

Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Lord, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Music: Richard Ayleward

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

Music after the service

Grand plein jeu and Fugue (Suite du premier ton), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749)

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