By Richard Gray, Director of Music
When I think about Compline, I think of a peaceful ending to a long day. This service, the final office of the day, is an opportunity for faithful worshippers to gather and reflect.
My first experience with Compline was actually assisting to officiate it. Two years ago, I was the organ scholar at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, learning about the Anglican services. I finished choir rehearsal and then headed to a 9pm service of Compline. Some questions went through my head: “Is this like an Evensong? Is there a bulletin? Wait, was I supposed to prepare organ voluntaries??” I was pleasantly surprised to find out just how calm and beautifully simple this service was. It reminded me of my Catholic upbringing and how we used to “keep watch” throughout the night-long adoration in the chapel.
I am excited to continue our wonderful tradition of offering Compline weekly at St. John’s. A goal of mine is to keep with the practice of faithful participation by the congregation and also explore additional meditative and contemplative components. I look forward to welcoming back the Mirandola and Lumina ensembles from right here in the Twin Cities, as well as introducing a new quartet, The St. John’s Compline Choir, that will lead a few times each semester.
I am eager for Compline to have an even greater presence in, not only the musical life of St. John’s, but the entire faith community.
By Keith Davis
What first drew me to Compline was curiosity. I’ve had a lifelong interest in Gregorian Chant, and I had prayed with the monks at St. John’s College. This new way of worship enthralled me and left me humbled, excited, and scared all at once.
When I first began attending, the Rev. Craig Lemming was leading the services. What a perfect voice! His chanting, and the meditative and contemplative experience, made my week.
I’m an incurable romantic, and being in the Compline service always takes me back to that monastic time. But it also connects me with the spiritual traditions of other communities today.
I see our welcome in the service because any and all are invited. We have a core group of Compline attendees, and not all of them are from St. John’s. Some are members of other churches or live in the neighborhood. People unaffiliated with any church come here to listen. You never know what people are bringing to Compline or wanting or needing. As my grandmother used to say, “Your blues may not be like mine, but they are blue.” We’re all at Sung Compline for a reason, and we all share in the bonding experience. We all let go of what we did or did not do that day.
The word “Compline” comes from Latin meaning “completion” because, as the last of the Daily Offices, it completes the day. Compline means completion, and it is completion.
By Sister Julian Smith-Boyer
I pray all the Daily Offices with my dispersed religious order by way of a customized computer application that joins us across different time zones. These times of prayer are integral and essential to my everyday life and spiritual growth.
I feel especially blessed to be able to be part of St. John’s weekly Compline service while sitting among people who I can see face-to-face in our choir space— lit with soft lighting and candles and enhanced by some incense (which I enjoy even though I am sensitive to it). I am transported with this “intentional” community of neighbors and fellow parishioners to a time of quiet and a sense of being in the presence of the Divine Mystery
Our voices are led in ever-improving harmony by a small choir who help even those non-singers like me believe I can sing. On occasion, the service is followed by contemplation-inspiring music.
Given the nature of this service, there is little conversation, but there is a knowing and welcoming exchange of smiles and nodding heads. Throughout and after the service, we look out for one another—for example, by sharing a bulletin, walking to the parking space in the dark together, or by offering a ride home.
Sung Compline is among the offerings by St. John’s that I am most grateful for. It centers my week and helps to end my Thursdays with a feeling that “all shall be well.” It completes the day, and in some ways I feel it also completes me.
Originally published in the September/October 2019 Evangelist.
