laudable Practice

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....

We are now in the dark time of the year. British Summer Time ended on Saturday past, the clock restored to its natural rhythms. Sunset today will be 4:55pm, with Hallowe'en pumpkins decorating most homes in anticipation of the beginning of Hallowtide. It is a day to think of prayers for the dark season.  The Laudian mind will naturally turn to the manuals of private devotion compiled by Lancelot Andrewes , John Cosin , and Jeremy Taylor . In their prayers for evening, all three echo the office of Compline . Cosin explicitly entitles his prayers "The Compline, or Final Prayers to be said before Bed Time", providing a shortened version of the office. The three forms of evening prayer provided by Andrewes echo Compline in various ways, particularly in quoting from the office's psalms and versicles. In his "form of Evening Prayer, which may also be used at bed-time", Taylor clearly based one of his prayers around the traditional Compline collect in  Breviarium R...

A recent Facebook post from the chapel of Keble College was a significant and welcome reminder of the important place of Compline in non-eucharistic liturgies. Keble College is not the only Oxbridge chapel in which Compline may be found: amongst others,  Jesus College and Hertford College . We might think of other examples which point to the attraction of Choral Compline: Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver; St. Mark's Anglican Cathedral, Seattle (with its ' Seattle rite '); Trinity Church Wall Street , New York City; and St. Giles in the Fields, London . This also has an important ecumenical aspect, with Roman Catholic and Nordic Lutheran cathedrals offering Choral Compline. At times it can also be found in  Church of Scotland cathedrals . Just as Choral Evensong has experienced a revival in its congregations over the past decade , and as there are hints of a re-emergence of Choral Matins , so Choral Compline has also established itself as a significant part of the no...