Compline

Church went well today. Good vibe and good attendance numbers. I had the Honorary Assistant, Marili, preach and preside. I did this for several reasons. For one, I've never seen her do either. For another, I want to the congregation to get used to having her around. Also, I think my preaching is better when I'm not the only one in the parish doing it. I like to listen to other people preach and respond to that, sometimes. It was also great to just be a "Liturgical" Deacon in my own church and step back and observe the service from that perspective for a change.

After church a person came to the door seeking help and I spent some time on that. Then I went home and watched some football while fading in and out of sleep. Around 6:30 I headed over to Belmont House (local Retirement Home) to do an Evening Prayer service there. I think next time I may bring a candle and do the whole "Service of Light" intro suggested by the BAS. Evening Prayer, like all the office, has within it some very powerful themes that never get old.

When I was young--around Confirmation age and on through High School and most of college--I would pray Compline every night from my prayerbook. I soon had it memorized. Compline is one of the traditional "Offices" of prayer said throughout the day. Like Morning Prayer (aka Mattins and Lauds) or Evening Prayer (aka Vespers) Compline is meant to be said everyday as a way to sanctify time itself for Christians.

As the last Office in the day before sleeping, Compline has strong themes of endings. It's the end of the day as well as preparation for death. The climax, for me, is the Song of Simeon and the Antiphons that go with it:

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.

Lord, you now have set your servant free*
to go in peace as you have promised.
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,*
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A light to enlighten the nations,*
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.

I met a woman who told me that when she was in the hospital, once, her heart stopped and the Code Team revived her from death. Once she was recovered a bit, her roommate told her that her last words before the monitor alarmed were the words of that antiphon--"Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping..." She couldn't recall actually saying them, but she did have them memorized and could imagine herself saying them. How perfect that her dying mind would recall those particular words. I hope I have such grace.

Blessed James, OHC, the Founder of that Order, had some really graceful last words. he said, "I will pray for you always." After he passed away, the doctors marveled that he must have been in extreme physical pain, but didn't seem to show it at all.

So next time I go to Belmont to do Evening Prayer I think I'll let it be Evening Prayer with its themes of fading light and the end of the day and not some imitation of Sunday Morning.

-t