For those of you wanting help in praying at home, this is how I use the SEC daily prayer with simple hymns and Taize chants. If you don’t recognise the music, please feel free to simply listen, to replace with a hymn you know or to skip over the chants.
The Suffering Christ.
Holy One, open our lips: and we shall proclaim your praise.
Glory to God, Source of all being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.
Thursdays: From Psalm 81.
1 Sing with joy to God our strength*
and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song and sound the timbrel,*
the merry harp, and the lyre.
3 Blow the ram’s-horn at the new moon,*
and at the full moon, the day of our feast.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,*
a law of the God of Jacob.
5 He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph,*
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
6 I heard an unfamiliar voice saying,*
‘I eased his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were set free from bearing the load.’
7 You called on me in trouble, and I saved you;*
I answered you from the secret place of thunder
and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:*
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;*
you shall not worship a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said,*
‘Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.’
11 And yet my people did not hear my voice,*
and Israel would not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts,*
to follow their own devices.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me!*
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I should soon subdue their enemies*
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,*
and their punishment would last for ever.
16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat*
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.
READING Lamentations 2:10–18
The elders of daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young girls of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out on the ground
because of the destruction of my people,
because infants and babes faint
in the streets of the city.
They cry to their mothers,
‘Where is bread and wine?’
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter Zion?
For vast as the sea is your ruin;
who can heal you?
Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen oracles for you
that are false and misleading.
All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at daughter Jerusalem;
‘Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?’
All your enemies
open their mouths against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: ‘We have devoured her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
at last we have seen it!’
The Lord has done what he purposed,
he has carried out his threat;
as he ordained long ago,
he has demolished without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you,
and exalted the might of your foes.
Cry aloud to the Lord!
O wall of daughter Zion!
Let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!
BENEDICTUS
PRAYERS
We have kept silent when we should have spoken.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
We have spoken when we should have kept silent.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
We have been guilty of denial and betrayal.
Lord, have mercy upon us
Spend time gathering your own prayers before God.
THURSDAYS:
O Christ, you offer us healing; may we live by your life.
O Christ, you offer us healing; may we live by your life.
O Christ, by remaining faithful till death,
you show us the road to greater love.
O Christ, by taking the burden of sin upon yourself,
you reveal to us the way of generosity.
O Christ, by praying for those who crucified you,
you lead us to forgive without counting the cost.
O Christ, by opening paradise to the repentant thief,
you awaken hope in us.
O Christ, come and help our weak faith.
O Christ, create a pure heart in us; renew and strengthen our spirit.
O Christ, your Word is near, may it live within us and protect us always.
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Do not bring us to the time of trial, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen.
Thursdays: Christ Jesus, even when we can feel nothing of your presence, you are always there. Your Holy Spirit remains continually active in us, opening little ways forward to escape from our dead ends and to move towards the essential of faith, of trust. Amen.
Almighty God, who, in your tender love for the human race, sent your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take our nature upon him, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his passion, and also, be made partakers of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil; and bring us to life eternal. Amen.
Compiled with Materials From SEC Daily Prayer; Jim Cotter, Lectionary Resources; Taizé A prayer for each day; GS2016 Pointed Liturgical Psalter 2016 04 08; Chris Thorpe, Touching the Sacred;
St Ternans Banchory 