St. Mark’s Cathedral at night (Don Clapp)
Compline is open to the public. For current restrictions or 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 Third Sunday after Pentecost
The READER begins with a Land Acknowledgment, then (on most days) reads a short passage selected from scripture.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Compline Choir and Saint Mark’s Cathedral acknowledge 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 all the Coast Salish Tribes.
ORISON: Hope of the world, thou Christ of great compassion (Tune: Donne secours) – mel. from Trente quatre pseaumes de David, 1551; harm. Claude Goudimel (c. 1514-1572)
Hope of the world, thou Christ of great compassion:
speak to our fearful hearts by conflict rent.
Save us, thy people, from consuming passion,
who by our own false hopes and aims are spent.
Hope of the world, afoot on dusty highways,
showing to wandering souls the path of light:
walk now beside us lest the tempting byways
lure us away from you to endless night.
Hope of the world, who by thy cross didst save us
from death and deep despair, from sin and guilt:
we render back the love thy mercy gave us;
take thou our lives and use them as thou wilt.
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.
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.
The READER announces the Psalm to be sung. The appointed psalms for Compline are Psalm 4 (Cum invocarem), Psalm 31:1-6 (In te, Domine, speravi), Psalm 91 (Qui habitat), and Psalm 134 (Ecce nunc). Other psalms may be used as appropriate to the church year. Many of the psalm settings sung in the service have been composed by Peter Hallock or Jason Anderson.
PSALM 17:1-14 – Jason A. Anderson (b. 1976
Hear my plea of innocence, O LORD; give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.
Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.
Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.
I give no offense with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.
My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.
I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.
Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.
Keep me as the apple of your eye; *
hide me under the shadow of your wings,
From the wicked who assault me, *
from my deadly enemies who surround me.
They have closed their heart to pity, *
and their mouth speaks proud things.
They press me hard, now they surround me, *
watching how they may cast me to the ground,
Like a lion, greedy for its prey, *
and like a young lion lurking in secret places.
Arise, O LORD; confront them and bring them down; *
deliver me from the wicked by your sword.
Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand *
from those whose portion in life is this world;
The READER speaks the following lesson in Eastertide:
Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy Name. Leave us not, O Lord our God. — [Jeremiah 14:9]
CHOIR: Thanks be to God.
The following Respond is chanted:
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. The hymn appointed for Compline is Te lucis ante terminum (Before the ending of the day). Other hymns may be sung as appropriate to the church year.
OFFICE HYMN: Te lucis ante terminum – Scandinavian melody; adapt. Derek Tilton (b. 1987)
Te lucis ante terminum,
Rerum Creator poscimus,
Ut pro tua clementia
Sis praesul et custodia.
To you before the close of day,
Creator of all things we pray
That in your constant clemency
Our guard and keeper you would be.
Procul recedant somnia,
Et noctium phantasmata;
Hostemque nostrum comprime,
Ne polluantur corpora.
Save us from troubled, restless sleep,
From all ill dreams your children keep;
So calm our minds that fears may cease
And rested bodies wake in peace.
Praesta Pater omnipotens
Per Jesum Christum Dominum
Qui tecum in perpetuum
Regnat cum Sancto Spiritu.
Almighty Father, hear our cry
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord Most High,
Whom with the Spirit we adore
For ever and for evermore.
The following is chanted:
CANTOR: Keep me as the apple of an eye;
CHOIR: Hide me under the shadow of thy wings.
NUNC DIMITTIS – Plainsong, Tone VIII; harm. Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (ca. 1560 – 1627)
A setting of the Nunc dimittis (from Luke 2:29-32, with Gloria Patri) is sung. The text may be from the King James version or from one of several modern translations. An antiphon precedes and follows it:
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 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 is intoned by the choir. The Assembly rises.
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.
The Confession and Absolution are spoken:
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 versicles and responses are chanted:
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 THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Keep, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy household the Church in thy steadfast faith and love, that by the help of thy grace we may proclaim thy truth with boldness, and minister thy justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for 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:
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
O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
CHOIR: Amen.
The READER announces the anthem to be sung.
ANTHEM: Poor Wayfaring Stranger – American spiritual, arr. by Derek Curtis Tilton (b. 1987
I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world of woe;
And there’s no sickness, toil nor danger
In that fair land to which I go.
I’m going home to see my father,
I’m going home, no more to roam;
I’m just goin’ over Jordan,
I’m just goin’ over home.
I’ll soon be free from every trial,
This form shall rest beneath the sod;
I’ll bear the cross of self-denial,
And enter in that home with God.
I’m going home to see my mother,
I’m going home, no more to roam;
I’m just goin’ over Jordan,
I’m just goin’ over home.
I know dark clouds will hover o’er me,
I know my pathway rough and steep,
But golden fields lie out before me,
Where weary eyes no more may weep.
I’m going home to see my Savior,
I’m going home, no more to roam;
I’m just goin’ over Jordan,
I am just goin’ over home.
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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