Morning Prayer
Epiphany Season
Sunday, 1 February 2026
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
Preparation
O Lord, open our lip
All and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Your light springs up for the righteous
All and all the peoples have seen your glory.
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
king of the nations,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
your name is proclaimed in all the world.
As the Sun of Righteousness dawns in our hearts
anoint our lips with the seal of your Spirit
that we may witness to your gospel
and sing your praise in all the earth.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
All Blessed be God for ever.
Jubilate – A Song of Joy
O be joyful in the Lord, all the earth; ♦
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
Know that the Lord is God; ♦
it is he that has made us and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise; ♦
give thanks to him and bless his name.
For the Lord is gracious; his steadfast love is everlasting, ♦
and his faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
Psalm 100
All Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.
All Amen.
The Word of God
Psalmody
Psalm 36:5-10
5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgements are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
10 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!
Refrain:
O God, be not far from me.
Faithful Lord, living Saviour,
in youth and old age,
from the womb to the grave,
may we know your protection
and proclaim your great salvation
to the glory of God the Father.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Old Testament Reading
1 Kings 17:8-16
The Widow of Zarephath
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 ‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.’ 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ 12 But she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.’ 13 Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’
Canticle
A Song of the New Jerusalem
Refrain:
All Above you the Holy One arises,
and above you God’s glory appears.
Arise, shine out, for your light has come, ♦
the glory of the Lord is rising upon you.
Though night still covers the earth, ♦
and darkness the peoples;
Above you the Holy One arises, ♦
and above you God’s glory appears.
The nations will come to your light, ♦
and kings to your dawning brightness.
Your gates will lie open continually, ♦
shut neither by day nor by night.
The sound of violence shall be heard no longer in your land, ♦
or ruin and devastation within your borders.
You will call your walls, Salvation, ♦
and your gates, Praise.
No more will the sun give you daylight, ♦
nor moonlight shine upon you;
But the Lord will be your everlasting light, ♦
your God will be your splendour.
For you shall be called the city of God, ♦
the dwelling of the Holy One of Israe
Isaiah 60.1-3, 11a, 18, 19, 14b
All
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
All
Above you the Holy One arises,
and above you God’s glory appears.
Gospel Reading
John 2:1-11
The Wedding at Cana
2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 4 And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 6 Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
All let the whole earth tremble before him.
Tell it out among the nations that the Lord is King.
All O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Tell out his salvation from day to day.
All Let the whole earth tremble before him.
Declare his glory among the nations
and his wonders among all peoples.
All O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
let the whole earth tremble before him.
from Psalm 96
Gospel Canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Refrain:
All This is the Christ, the Chosen of God,
the one who will bring healing to the nations.
Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, ♦
who has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, ♦
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets God promised of old ♦
to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us,
To show mercy to our ancestors, ♦
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham: ♦
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear, ♦
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, ♦
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation ♦
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God ♦
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, ♦
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1.68-79
All Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Refrain:
All This is the Christ, the Chosen of God,
the one who will bring healing to the nations.
Prayers
The Collect of the day is said
God our creator,
who in the beginning
commanded the light to shine out of darkness:
we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief,
shine into the hearts of all your people,
and reveal the knowledge of your glory
in the face of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
All Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer is said
The Conclusion
May Christ, who sends us to the nations,
give us the power of his Spirit.
All Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
All Thanks be to God.