St. Giles’ Cathedral
Morning Service at 11am
4th Sunday in Lent
Sunday 10th March 2024
Organ Music
J.S.Bach Meine Seele erhebt den Herren BWV 648
Jean Langlais Plainte
Introit
Call to remembrance O Lord
Call to remembrance, O Lord thy tender mercies
and thy loving kindnesses which have been ever of old.
Text: Psalm 25 v 5
Music: Stuart Murray Mitchell
Processional Hymn
Give thanks unto the Lord our God.
How good and kind is he
whose tender mercy shall endure
through all eternity.
Let God's redeemed repeat these words
and give him thanks and praise
who rescued them from hostile hands,
preserved them all their days.
He gathered them from out the lands,
from north, south, east, and west.
They strayed in desert's pathless way,
no city found to rest.
Their weary soul within then faints
when thirst and hunger press;
in trouble then they cried to God;
he saved them from distress.
He made the way before them straight,
and he became their guide,
that they might to a city go
wherein they might abide.
Let all the children of the Lord
now praise him for his grace,
and for the works of wonder done
in every time and place!
Text: Psalm 107: 1-8 The Scottish Psalter 1929
Music: Kingsfold CH4 291 English Traditional Melody arr. R.Vaughan Williams 1872-1958
Scripture Sentences
The Preces
O Lord open thou our lips
Thomas Morley 1557-1602
Bidding
Prayer
Collect
God of compassion, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself; strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bind together and to heal; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
First Lesson Numbers 21 4-9
The Choir sings PSALM 107 1-3, 17-22
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Second Lesson St John 3 14-21
Hymn
Lord, teach us how to pray aright,
with reverence and with fear;
though fallen sinners in thy sight,
we may, we must, draw near.
Our spirits fail through lack of prayer:
oh, grant us power to pray;
and, when to meet thee we prepare,
Lord, meet us by the way.
God of all grace, we bring to thee
a broken contrite heart;
give what thine eye delights to see-
truth in the inward part;
Trust in the only sacrifice
that can for sin atone;
to cast our hopes, to fix our eyes,
on Christ, on Christ alone;
Patience to watch and wait and weep,
though mercy long delay;
and courage our faint souls to keep,
with faith in thee alway.
Give these, and then thy will be done:
thus, strengthened with all might,
we, through thy Spirit and thy Son
shall pray and pray aright.
Text: James Montgomery 1771-1854
Tune: St Hugh E.J.Hopkins 1818-1901
Sermon
Anthem
Lord, thou hast been our refuge
Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another.
Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made, thou art God from everlasting
and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction; again thou sayest: Come again, ye children of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday; seeing that is past as a watch in the night.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
As soon as thou scatterest them they are even as a sleep and fade away suddenly like the grass.
In the morning it is green, and groweth up, but in the evening it is cut down, dried up and withered.
For we consume away in thy displeasure, and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.
For when thou art angry all our days are gone; we bring our years to an end, as a tale that is told.
The years of our age are three-score years and ten, and though men be so strong that they come to four-score years,
yet is their strength but labour and sorrow.
So passeth it away, and we are gone. Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last.
Be gracious unto thy servants. O satisfy us with thy mercy and that soon.
So shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another.
Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made,
thou art God from everlasting and world without end.
And the glorious majesty of the Lord be upon us.
Prosper thou, O prosper thou the work of our hands, O prosper thou our handywork.
Text: Psalm 90
Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872-1958
The Offering
Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer
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 those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Hymn
Fairest Lord Jesus,
ruler of all nature
O thou of God and Man the Son;
thee will I cherish,
thee will I honour,
thou my soul's glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the verdure and bloom of spring.
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer,
he makes the saddest heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
fairer still the moonlight,
and fair the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer
than all the stars that heaven can boast.
Text: Münster Gesangbuch 1677 Tr. Lilian Stevenson 1870-1960 and others
Music: Schönster Herr Jesu CH4 463 Silesian Melody from Schleswige Volkelieder, Leipzig 1842
Benediction
Organ Voluntary
J.S.Bach Prelude in C minor BWV 546
CCL Licence No 980930
Streaming Licence 57837
The service was conducted by The Rev Dr George J Whyte