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.

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 the Commonwealth Foundation and the work of the Abbey. The Commonwealth Foundation is the Commonwealth's agency for civil society, supporting people's participation in democracy and development.

Order of Service

All stand as the clergy enter

The officiant says a sentence of Scripture

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 stand to say the Responses

All sit to say Psalm 89

My song shall be alway of the loving-kindness of the Lord :
with my mouth will I ever be shewing thy truth from one generation to another.
For I have said, Mercy shall be set up for ever :
thy truth shalt thou stablish in the heavens.
I have made a covenant with my chosen :
I have sworn unto David my servant;
thy seed will I stablish for ever :
and set up thy throne from one generation to another.
O Lord, the very heavens shall praise thy wondrous works :
and thy truth in the congregation of the saints.
For who is he among the clouds :
that shall be compared unto the Lord?
And what is he among the gods :
that shall be like unto the Lord?
God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints :
and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.
O Lord God of Hosts, who is like unto thee :
thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on every side.
Thou rulest the raging of the sea :
thou stillest the waves thereof when they arise.
Thou hast subdued Egypt, and destroyed it :
thou hast scattered thine enemies abroad with thy mighty arm.
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine :
thou hast laid the foundation of the round world, and all that therein is.
Thou hast made the north and the south :
Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
Thou hast a mighty arm :
strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat :
mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Blessed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice in thee :
they shall walk in the light of thy countenance.
Their delight shall be daily in thy name :
and in thy righteousness shall they make their boast.
For thou art the glory of their strength :
and in thy loving-kindness thou shalt lift up our horns.
For the Lord is our defence :
the Holy One of Israel is our King.
Thou spakest sometime in visions unto thy saints, and saidst :
I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
I have found David my servant :
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
My hand shall hold him fast :
and my arm shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not be able to do him violence :
the son of wickedness shall not hurt him.
I will smite down his foes before his face :
and plague them that hate him.
My truth also and my mercy shall be with him :
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his dominion also in the sea :
and his right hand in the floods.
He shall call me, Thou art my Father :
my God, and my strong salvation.
And I will make him my first-born :
higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore :
and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
His seed also will I make to endure for ever :
and his throne as the days of heaven.
But if his children forsake my law :
and walk not in my judgements;
If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments :
I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges.
Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him :
nor suffer my truth to fail.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips :
I have sworn once by my holiness, that I will not fail David.
His seed shall endure for ever :
and his seat is like as the sun before me.
He shall stand fast for evermore as the moon :
and as the faithful witness in heaven.
But thou has abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed :
and art displeased at him.
Thou hast broken the covenant of thy servant :
and cast his crown to the ground.
Thou has overthrown all his hedges :
and broken down his strong holds.
All they that go by spoil him :
and he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
Thou has set up the right hand of his enemies :
and made all his adversaries to rejoice.
Thou hast taken away the edge of his sword :
and givest him not victory in the battle.
Thou has put out his glory :
and cast his throne down to the ground.
The days of his youth hast thou shortened :
and covered him with dishonour.
Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyself, for ever :
and shall thy wrath burn like fire?
O remember how short my time is :
wherefore hast thou made all men for nought?
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death :
and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
Lord, where are thy old loving-kindnesses :
which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
Remember, Lord, the rebuke that thy servants have :
and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people;
wherewith thine enemies have blasphemed thee, and slandered the footsteps of thine Anointed :
Praised be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

All remain seated for the first Lesson, Judges 14: 5–17

Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do. When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. Samson said to them, 'Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.' So they said to him, 'Ask your riddle; let us hear it.' He said to them,
'Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.'
But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, 'Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?' So Samson's wife wept before him, saying, 'You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.' He said to her, 'Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?' She wept before him for the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people.

Here ends the first lesson.

All stand to say Magnificat

All sit for the second Lesson, Revelation 10: 4–11

When the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.' Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land
raised his right hand to heaven
   and swore by him who lives for ever and ever,
who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: 'There will be no more delay, but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.'

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, 'Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.' So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, 'Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.' So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

Then they said to me, 'You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.'

Here ends the second lesson.

All stand to say Nunc dimittis

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 for 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 says the Collects; of the day, for peace, and for aid against all perils

O Lord, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth; send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee: grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake. 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.

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 remain kneeling or seated for the Intercessions, at the end of which 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 clergy depart

If you attend worship at the Abbey regularly, you may like to add this page to your home screen for easy access to our orders of service.

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.