Morning Prayer
Lent 2
Sunday, 1st March 2026
The Second Sunday of Lent
Preparation
O Lord, open our lips
All and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love,
All according to your judgement give us life.
Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy, to you be praise and glory for ever.
In the darkness of our sin, your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance.
As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help, sustain us with your bountiful Spirit
and open our lips to sing your praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
All Blessed be God for ever.
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 121
Assurance of God’s Protection
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore.
Old Testament Reading
Genesis 12:1-4
The Call of Abram
12 Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Canticle
Refrain:
All Full of compassion and mercy and love is God, the Most High, the Almighty.
1Lord almighty and God of our ancestors, ♦
you who made heaven and earth in all their glory:
2All things tremble with awe at your presence, ♦
before your great and mighty power.
3Immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy, ♦
for you are God, Most High.
4You are full of compassion, long-suffering and very merciful, ♦
and you relent at human suffering.
5O God, according to your great goodness, ♦
you have promised forgiveness for repentance to those who have sinned against you.
6The sins I have committed against you ♦
are more in number than the sands of the sea.
7I am not worthy to look up to the height of heaven, ♦
because of the multitude of my iniquities.
8And now I bend the knee of my heart before you, ♦
imploring your kindness upon me.
9I have sinned, O God, I have sinned, ♦
and I acknowledge my transgressions.
10Unworthy as I am, you will save me, ♦
according to your great mercy.
11For all the host of heaven sings your praise, ♦
and your glory is for ever and ever.
Manasseh 1a, 2, 4, 6, 7a, b, 9a, c, 11, 12, 14b, 15b
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 Full of compassion and mercy and love is God, the Most High, the Almighty.
New Testament Reading
Romans 4:1-5
The Example of Abraham
4 What then are we to say was gained by[a] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ 4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
Romans 4:13-17
God’s Promise Realized through Faith
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Gospel Reading
John 3:1-17
Nicodemus Visits Jesus
3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3 Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’[b] 4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You[d] must be born from above.”[e] 8 The wind[f] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10 Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you[g] do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[h] 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[i]
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
All O my God, in you I trust.
You are the God of my salvation,
All To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
In you I hope all the day long.
All O my God, in you I trust.
Remember, Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting.
All To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; O my God, in you I trust.
Refrain:
All Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
1Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, ♦
who has come to his people and set them free.
2He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, ♦
born of the house of his servant David.
3Through his holy prophets God promised of old ♦
to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us,
4To show mercy to our ancestors, ♦
and to remember his holy covenant.
5This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham: ♦
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6Free to worship him without fear, ♦
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
7And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, ♦
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8To give his people knowledge of salvation ♦
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9In the tender compassion of our God ♦
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10To 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 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Prayers
The Collect of the day is said
Almighty God,
by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings,
and by following in his Way
come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer is said
May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love.
All Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
All Thanks be to God.