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Compline
Beginning on September 10, St. Paul’s will initiate the Office of Compline on Sunday evenings when there is not another scheduled service or event. Compline will begin at 7:00 p.m. around a candlelit altar on the labyrinth.
Compline is the last of the daily offices contained in the Book of Common Prayer. The word “compline” stems from the Latin word completorium meaning completion. We owe the modern form of the Order of Compline to Saint Benedict of Nursia. St. Benedict, known as the father of western monasticism, appointed a book of precepts known as The Rule in the sixth century. Originally, compline was totally in Latin, would have been completely sung, and was known as the bedtime prayer of monks.
The Episcopal Office of Compline is relatively short and often described as a contemplative service focused on individual thoughts of night, sleep and spiritual peace. It is the ideal trusting prayer: asking God for a “peaceful night and a perfect end.”
All are welcome to join this gathering which will be led by lay leaders Stephen Camp-Landis, Karen Richter, and Diana Whitener. Combining plainsong, prayer and scripture, our congregants can, through the practice of this ancient ritual, come to a fitting end of the most sacred of days in the week.
