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.

Please join in saying the words and singing the hymns 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 St Margaret's Church during services. Please ensure that mobile telephones and other electronic devices are silent.

During the final hymn a collection will be taken; the money from today's services will be divided equally between the Anglican Centre in Rome and the work of the Abbey. The Anglican Centre in Rome is the permanent Anglican Communion presence in Rome; the living reality of our Communion's commitment to the full visible unity of the Church, working collaboratively with all Christians for justice and peace in the world.

Order of Service

All stand as the clergy enter

The officiant says a Sentence of Scripture

All remain standing for the Responses

O Lord, open thou our lips
and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

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.

Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's name be praised.

All sing the Hymn

Blest are the pure in heart,
   for they shall see our God,
the secret of the Lord is theirs,
   their soul is Christ's abode.

The Lord, who left the heavens
   our life and peace to bring,
to dwell in lowliness with us,
   our pattern and their King;

still to the lowly soul
   he doth himself impart,
and for his dwelling and his throne
   chooseth the pure in heart.

Lord, we thy presence seek;
   may ours this blessing be;
give us a pure and lowly heart,
   a temple meet for thee.

Words: John Keble (1792–1866) and others
Tune: Franconia 341 NEH, William Henry Havergal (1793–1870), adapted from Johann Balthasar König's Harmonischer Lieder-Schatz, Frankfurt, 1738

All sit to say Venite exultemus Domino

All remain seated to say 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.

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.

I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, with my whole heart :
even before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
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.

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.

All remain seated for the first Lesson, Ecclesiasticus 3: 17–29

My child, perform your tasks with humility;
   then you will be loved by those whom God accepts.
The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself;
   so you will find favour in the sight of the Lord.
For great is the might of the Lord;
   but by the humble he is glorified.
Neither seek what is too difficult for you,
   nor investigate what is beyond your power.
Reflect upon what you have been commanded,
   for what is hidden is not your concern.
Do not meddle in matters that are beyond you,
   for more than you can understand has been shown to you.
For their conceit has led many astray,
   and wrong opinion has impaired their judgement.

Without eyes there is no light;
   without knowledge there is no wisdom.
A stubborn mind will fare badly at the end,
   and whoever loves danger will perish in it.
A stubborn mind will be burdened by troubles,
   and the sinner adds sin to sins.
When calamity befalls the proud, there is no healing,
   for an evil plant has taken root in him.
The mind of the intelligent appreciates proverbs,
   and an attentive ear is the desire of the wise.

Here ends the first lesson.

All stand to say Te Deum laudamus

We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein.
To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;
heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee.
The noble army of martyrs praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,
the Father, of an infinite majesty;
thine honourable, true, and only Son,
also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ;
thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy saints, in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage.
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee,
and we worship thy name ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

All sit for the second Lesson, Revelation 1

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds;
   every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
   and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.

'I am the Alpha and the Omega', says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, 'Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.'

Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, 'Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.'

Here ends the second lesson.

All stand to say Benedictus

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he hath visited, and redeemed his people;
and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets,
which have been since the world began,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hands of all that hate us;
to perform the mercy promised to our forefathers,
and to remember his holy covenant,
to perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham,
that he would give us,
that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest;
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation unto his people
for the remission of their sins.
Through the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us,
to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

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.

All face east to say together the Apostles' Creed

The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

All kneel or sit to say the Lesser Litany; the Lord's Prayer and the Responses

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

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.

O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
And grant us thy salvation.

O Lord, save The King.
And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Endue thy ministers with righteousness.
And make thy chosen people joyful.

O Lord, save thy people.
And bless thine inheritance.

Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Because there is none other that fighteth for us,
but only thou, O God.

O God, make clean our hearts within us.
And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

The officiant says the Collects; of the day, for Peace, and for Grace

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, 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.

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

All stand to sing the Hymn, during which a collection will be taken. Alternatively, cash donations may be given as you leave

Lo! he comes with clouds descending,
   once for favoured sinners slain;
thousand thousand saints attending
   swell the triumph of his train:
      Alleluia!
   God appears, on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold him
   robed in dreadful majesty;
those who set at nought and sold him,
   pierced and nailed him to the tree,
      deeply wailing,
   shall the true Messiah see.

Those dear tokens of his passion
   still his dazzling body bears,
cause of endless exultation
   to his ransomed worshippers:
      with what rapture
   gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore thee,
   high on thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory:
   claim the kingdom for thine own:
      O come quickly!
   Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!

Words: The Kingdom Come, Charles Wesley (1707–88)
Tune: Helmsley 9 NEH, noted by Thomas Olivers (1725–99), included in John Wesley's Sacred Melody, 1765

All remain standing for the Blessing, to which all respond Amen.

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