Heaven and earth in little space: BBC Radio 3's Compline on the Sundays of Advent

At 10pm on the Sundays of Advent, the prayers, psalms, and anthems of Compline are to be heard on BBC Radio 3. As Gerry Lynch said in his Church Times review, "these seasonal broadcasts of Compline continue to be a reminder that radio does not need to be pacy to be engaging".

Amidst the ecclesiastical, domestic, social, and commercial activities of the season, these broadcast services of Compline offer thirty minutes of contemplation on Sunday evenings, rooted in the Church's prayer and the Advent hope. It is an immersion in prayer and liturgical music that calls us to be still.  There is nothing rushed, loud, or demanding. We are invited to a stillness as distractions abound, even late on a Sunday evening. It is in the stillness that the words and music of Compline hold us before the One who is, and was, and is to come. 

The broadcasts reflect the generous ecumenism of the Anglican choral tradition, with texts, music, and composers from across the Christian traditions. No less significant is that the work of contemporary composers is also heard, reminding us that the Anglican choral tradition continues to attract the attention and support of talented figures. The call to compose music for Christian liturgy, therefore, continues to draw forth beauty and contemplation.

Listening to the broadcasts brings to mind the wisdom of the Elizabethan Settlement. In her Injunctions of 1559, Elizabeth ensured that the choral tradition - "the laudable science of music" - would continue in the Church of her realm, "for the comforting of such that delight in music". The great apologist of Elizabeth's settlement, Hooker, also rejoiced in the choral tradition, "a thinge which filleth the minde with comefort and heavenly delight" (LEP V.39.4). It was very appropriate, therefore, that the setting for the Nunc Dimittis in the broadcast for the Third Sunday of Advent was the quiet but beautiful simplicity of Tallis' Short Service, as would have been heard in Elizabeth's Chapel Royal.

It might be pointed out, of course, that while the Nunc Dimittis would have been heard in Elizabeth's Chapel Royal, Compline would not. The Church of England's Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1552, 1559, 1662) had and has no service of Compline. That said, texts from Compline - the Nunc, the collect 'Lighten our darkness' - were incorporated into Evensong, with much of the same contemplative nature of the night office found in Evening Prayer. 

Aspects of Compline also began to appear in devotional texts for use of members of the early 17th century Church of England -something of a recognition that Compline was spiritually fitting and satisfying. John Cosin, in his A Collection of Private Devotions (1627), referred to prayer before sleep as 'The Compline'. Jeremy Taylor, in Holy Living (1650), drew on Compline for "Another form of Evening Prayer, which may also be used at bed-time":

Visit I beseech thee, O Lord, this habitation with thy mercy, and me with thy grace and salvation. Let thy holy Angels pitch their tents round about and dwell here ...

The inclusion of Compline in 20th century revisions, therefore, had deep roots in the wider Prayer Book tradition. For Irish Anglicans, its appearance in the 1926 revision (retained in 2004) ensured that it would become a much loved office in many parishes, its quiet, contemplative character particularly enriching Advent, Lent, and Holy Week.

The office of Compline used in the broadcasts is the traditional language version from Common Worship. While slightly reordered, the texts are of those from Compline in the Prayer Book as Proposed in 1928. This is worthy of comment. I admit that it may very well be because I am a member of the Prayer Book Society that I find it very difficult to imagine the contemporary version of Compline being used for these broadcasts. It is noteworthy, however, that - as with the weekly broadcasts of Choral Evensong - it is the traditional Prayer Book language that is heard.

While some advocates of the Prayer Book deny that the Prayer Book's language has inherent value, the broadcast of Choral Evensong and Compline suggests otherwise. Perhaps this indicates a sense that the traditional Prayer Book language itself evokes a deep tradition. This is something not to be undervalued in a cultural context in which contemporary language might be interpreted as less traditional, having shallower roots, when tradition and deeper roots are being sought.

These broadcast services of Choral Compline have a particular resonance in Advent. At the darkest time of the year, the quiet promise of God's blessing amidst the deep darkness touches heart and soul. As the end of another year draws close, the Church's traditional prayer at day's end holds us before the unchanging One, who is Alpha and Omega. The festive season can be frantic; it can also evoke memories of loss and regret. We need the gift of "a quiet night and a perfect end", to still us, to assure us that all manner of things shall be well.

Finally, there is how these broadcasts of Compline conclude, with a Marian anthem. In the Latin tradition, of course, this is customary. No edition of the Book of Common Prayer, however, directs the use of such an anthem, not least because the various seasonal anthems sung at the end of Compline invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary, contrary to Article XXII. Is this all that a Laudian, committed to the Reformation's rejection of the invocation of saints - a practice found nowhere in the Book of Common Prayer - is to say? No, I think more than this can and should be said. 

Honouring the Blessed Virgin Mary is itself an act required of Christians by the Incarnation. Thus, while the text of Alma redemptoris Mater - the seasonal Marian anthem heard at the conclusion of the broadcasts on the First and Second Sundays of Advent - will be regarded by the Laudian mind as doctrinally misguided, the intent to honour and reverence the Blessed Virgin can be affirmed. The broadcast for the Third Sunday of Advent was pleasingly Laudian in this regard. The Marian anthem was 'There is no rose'. Without invocations, it is a traditional text which beautifully rejoices in Blessed Virgin's role in the Incarnation, and is perfectly suited as a conclusion to Compline during Advent.

Heaven and earth in little space.

The words could almost refer to the broadcast itself. It is a wonderful example of how the ancient office of Compline, the language of the Prayer Book tradition, and the Anglican choral tradition (and, we might add, public service broadcasting at its best, doing what it should do in Reithian fashion) can draw us to a quiet contemplation of the Advent hope.

In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.