Introit chant, Palm Sunday
Compline has re-opened to the public! For more information, go to the Compline Choir website.
The Compline Choir at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle presents the Office of Compline live via video livestream and audio broadcast on Classical 98.1 KING-FM. Singers are fully compliant with current health guidance. The Compline Choir is a ministry of the Diocese of Olympia and of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. The Compline service is offered every Sunday night at 9:30 PM Pacific Time.
Video livestream feeds:
Livestream at complinechoir.org
Livestream at The Compline Choir Facebook page
Livestream at saintmarks.org
Livestream at St. Mark’s Cathedral Facebook page
Video livestream archive:
(link to the livestream archive on saintmarks.org after the service)
Audio stream feeds:
Live broadcast on KING-FM (Sundays at 9:30 pm PDT)
(link to the podcast on complinepodcast.org when uploaded)
Compline for The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
The READER begins with a Land Acknowledgment, then a short passage selected from scripture.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Compline Choir, a shared ministry of the Peter R. Hallock Institute, St. Mark’s Cathedral, and the Diocese of Olympia, acknowledges that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Duwamish Tribe.
God highly exalted Christ and gave Jesus the name above every other name, so that, at the name of Jesus, every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God: Jesus Christ reigns supreme! — [Philippians 2:9-11]
ORISON: Domine, ne longe facias – Plainsong, Mode VII
O Lord, keep not Thy help far from me; look to my defense; deliver me from the lion’s mouth, and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns. (Psalm) O God, my God, look upon me; why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. [Introit, Palm Sunday]
PREPARATION
READER: The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
CHOIR: Amen.
READER: Beloved in Christ, be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist, steadfast in the faith. [I Peter 5: 8, 9a]
READER: But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
CHOIR: Thanks be to God.
READER: Our help is in the name of the Lord
CHOIR: who hath made heaven and earth.
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
READER: Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.
CHOIR: We confess to God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, through our own grievous fault. Wherefore we pray God to have mercy upon us.
CHOIR: Almighty God, have mercy upon us, forgive us all our sins and deliver us from all evil, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and bring us to life everlasting. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
READER: May the almighty and merciful Lord grant unto us pardon and remission of all our sins, time for amendment of life, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit.
CHOIR: Amen.
The following is chanted.
CANTOR: O God, make speed to save us;
CHOIR: O Lord, make haste to help us.
CANTOR: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
CHOIR: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
CANTOR: Praise ye the Lord;
CHOIR: The Lord’s name be praiséd.
PSALM 22:1-11 – Plainsong, Tone IV.1
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *
and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; *
by night as well, but I find no rest.
Yet you are the Holy One, *
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
Our forefathers put their trust in you; *
they trusted, and you delivered them.
They cried out to you and were delivered; *
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
But as for me, I am a worm and no man, *
scorned by all and despised by the people.
All who see me laugh me to scorn; *
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
“He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him; *
let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”
Yet you are he who took me out of the womb, *
and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.
I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *
you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *
and there is none to help.
The READER offers the following lesson:
This is the sort of fast that pleases GOD: Remove the chains of injustice! Undo the ropes of the yoke! Let those who are oppressed go free, and break every yoke you encounter! Share your bread with those who are hungry, and shelter those who are poor or without a home! Clothe those who are naked, and don’t hide from the needs of your own flesh and blood! – [Isaiah 58:6,7]
CHOIR: Thanks be to God.
The following Respond is chanted (sung in a polyphonic setting on Palm Sunday):
RESPOND: In manus tuas – John Sheppard (c. 1515-1558)
CANTOR: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
CHOIR: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
CANTOR: For thou hast redeeméd me, O Lord, thou God of truth;
CHOIR: I commend my spirit.
CANTOR: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
CHOIR: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
The READER announces the hymn to be sung.
HYMN: O sacred head, sore wounded (Tune: HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN) – Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612); adapt. and harm. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
O sacred head, sore wounded,
Defiled and put to scorn:
O kingly head, surrounded
With mocking crown of thorn;
What sorrow mars thy grandeur?
Can death thy bloom deflow’r?
O countenance whose splendor
The hosts of heav’n adore!
Thy beauty, long desired,
Hath vanished from our sight:
Thy pow’r is all expired,
And quenched the light of light.
Ah me! for whom thou diest,
Hide not so far thy grace:
Show me, O Love most highest,
The brightness of thy face.
In thy most bitter passion
My heart to share doth cry.
With thee for my salvation
Upon the cross to die.
Ah, keep my heart thus moved
To stand thy cross beneath,
To mourn thee, well-beloved,
Yet thank thee for thy death.
What language shall I borrow
To thank thee, dearest friend,
For this thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever!
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love for thee.
SHORT RESPOND
CANTOR: Keep me as the apple of an eye;
CHOIR: Hide me under the shadow of thy wings.
NUNC DIMITTIS – Plainsong setting, Tone IV.2
ANTIPHON: Preserve us, O Lord, while waking, and guard us while sleeping;
that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: * according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. * which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, * and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Glory be 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.
THE APOSTLES CREED
CANTOR: I believe in God,
CHOIR: the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE PRAYERS
CANTOR: Lord, have mercy upon us.
CHOIR: Christ, have mercy upon us.
CANTOR: Lord, have mercy upon us.
The Lord’s Prayer and the following versicles and responses are intoned:
CANTOR: Our Father,
CHOIR: who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
CANTOR: Blessed art thou, Lord God of our fathers;
CHOIR: To be praised and glorified above all for ever.
CANTOR: Let us bless the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
CHOIR: Let us praise him and magnify him for ever.
CANTOR: Blessed art thou, O Lord, in the firmament of heaven;
CHOIR: To be praised and glorified above all for ever.
CANTOR: The Almighty and merciful Lord guard us and give us his blessing.
CHOIR: Amen.
CANTOR: Wilt thou not turn again and quicken us;
CHOIR: That thy people may rejoice in thee?
CANTOR: O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us;
CHOIR: And grant us thy salvation.
CANTOR: Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this night without sin;
CHOIR: O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
CANTOR: O Lord, hear our prayer;
CHOIR: And let our cry come unto thee.
CANTOR: Let us pray.
At least three but not more than five prayers (or collects) are intoned by the CANTOR. The first collect is proper to the day:
THE SUNDAY OF THE PASSION: PALM SUNDAY (April 10)
Almighty and everliving God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Other collects offered address the needs and concerns of the choir, or local or global community. The final collect is chosen from the following:
Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the silent hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, may repose upon thy eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Or
Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this place, and drive from it all the snares of the enemy; let thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace; and may thy blessing be upon us evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Or, on The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday,
O Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, who at this evening hour didst rest in the sepulchre, and didst thereby sanctify the grave to be a bed of hope to thy people; Make us so to abound in sorrow for our sins, which were the cause of thy passion, that when our bodies lie in the dust, our souls may live with thee; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God world without end.
CHOIR: Amen.
The READER announces the anthem to be sung.
ANTHEM: Lamentations – Peter R. Hallock
Here begins the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet.
How deserted lies the city once so full of people: how like a widow
she is, who once was great among the nations, and princess
among the provinces, how is she become tributary.
Bitterly she weeps in the night, and tears are upon her cheeks:
Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her.
All of her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.
FINAL RESPONSES and BLESSING
The CHOIR sings the final versicles and responses, using a setting composed by Peter Hallock in 1956, the year of the Compline Choir’s founding:
CANTOR: We will lay us down in peace and take our rest:
CHOIR: For it is thou, Lord, only that makest us to dwell in safety.
CANTOR: The Lord be with you:
CHOIR: And with thy spirit.
CANTOR: Let us bless the Lord:
CHOIR: Thanks be to God.
The closing blessing is spoken:
READER: The Almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, bless and preserve us.
CHOIR: Amen.
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