Order of Service
Friday, 3rd January 2025
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.
Following the service, a collection will be taken; the money from today's services will be divided equally between Westminster House Youth Club and the work of the Abbey. Since 1888, Westminster House Youth Club has been supporting young people aged 8–18 to make positive life choices, by providing for them purposeful activities, both recreational and educational.
Visiting Choir
When the Abbey Choirs are on holiday, the Abbey welcomes visiting choirs, upholding the Abbey's pattern of choral services. This is an important aspect of worship at Westminster Abbey, and choirs are received both at the invitation of the Minor Canons and Music Departments and via online applications. More information and details on how to apply can be found here.
Today, the Abbey is pleased to welcome the Cathedral Singers of Ontario, Canada, who are singing the choral services until 5 January. The Cathedral Singers of Ontario was founded in 2000. CSO draws singers from Southwestern Ontario and visits the United Kingdom twice a year for week-long residencies at a cathedral. Ian Sadler, a former chorister and organ scholar at St Paul's Cathedral, directs the choir. Guest conductors are often engaged including Simon Lole, Paul Trepte, and Martin Elliott, a former chorister of Westminster Abbey. This is the choir's third visit to Westminster Abbey and its thirty-fifth to the UK.
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 Psalms 137 and 138
By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept : when we remembered thee, O Sion.
As for our harps, we hanged them up : upon the trees that are therein.
For they that led us away captive required of us then a song, and melody in our heaviness : Sing us one of the songs of Sion.
How shall we sing the Lord's song : in a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem : let my right hand forget her cunning.
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth : yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem in my mirth.
Remember the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem : how they said, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.
O daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery : yea, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us.
Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children : and throweth them against the stones.
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name, because of thy loving-kindness and truth : for thou hast magnified thy name, and thy Word, above all things.
When I called upon thee, thou heardest me : and enduedst my soul with much strength.
All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord : for they have heard the words of thy mouth.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord : that great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly : as for the proud, he beholdeth them afar off.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, yet shalt thou refresh me : thou shalt stretch forth thy hand upon the furiousness of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
The Lord shall make good his loving-kindness toward me : yea, thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; despise not then the works of thine own hands.
All stand
Chant: Henry Ley (1887–1962)
All sit for the first Lesson, Deuteronomy 6: 4–15
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear. Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, because the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.
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, John 10: 31–end
The Jews took up stones again to stone Jesus. Jesus replied, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?' The Jews answered, 'It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.' Jesus answered, 'Is it not written in your law, "I said, you are gods"? If those to whom the word of God came were called "gods"—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, "I am God's Son"? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.' Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, 'John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.' And many believed in him there.
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.
The officiant and choir sing the Lesser Litany; the Lord's Prayer and the Responses
Let us pray.
All kneel or sit
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 God, who madest thy blessed Son Jesus Christ to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ 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
I sing of a maiden that is makeless,
king of all kings, to her son she ches.
He came all so stille where his mother was,
as dew in Aprile that falleth on the grass.
He came all so stille where his mother lay,
as dew in Aprile that falleth on the spray.
Mother and maiden, was never none but she;
well may such a maiden God's mother be.
Words: Middle English, c 1400
Music: Lennox Berkeley (1903–89)
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
Friday, 3rd January 2025 | ||
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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 Cathedral Singers of Ontario, Canada | Smith Responses |
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View Order of Service | ||