St. Mark’s Cathedral – Advent 2022
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 First Sunday of Advent
The READER begins with a Land Acknowledgment, then a short passage selected from scripture.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Saint Mark’s Cathedral 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 all the Coast Salish Tribes.
Jesus said, “In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.”
ORISON: Matin Responsory – Jason A. Anderson (b. 1976)
I look from afar. And behold, I see the power of God coming, and a cloud cov’ring the whole earth.
Go out to meet him and say: “Tell us, are you the one who is to come and reign over your people Israel?”
High and low, rich and poor, one with another: Go out to meet him and say: “Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock: Tell us, are you the one who is to come and reign over your people Israel?”
Stir up your strength, O Lord, and come to reign over your people Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen, Amen, Amen!
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 80:1-7, 16-18 – Plainsong, Tone IV.4
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
The READER speaks the following lesson on the Sundays of Advent:
Jesus said, “Beware, keep alert, and pray; for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn; or else he may find you’re asleep when he comes suddenly.”
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.
HYMN 66: Come, thou long-expected Jesus (Tune: STUTTGART) – mel. from Psalmodia Sacra, 1715; harm. William Henry Havergal (1793-1870)
Come, thou long-expected Jesus
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art:
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child, and yet a king,
born to reign in us for ever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal Spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all-sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
The following is chanted:
CANTOR: Keep me as the apple of an eye;
CHOIR: Hide me under the shadow of thy wings.
NUNC DIMITTIS (Tune: MARILYN) – Peter R. Hallock (1924-2014)
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: Come. O Lord, and visit us in peace; that we may rejoice with a perfect heart.
Lord, let your servant part in peace, your word is now fulfilled.
These eyes have seen salvation’s dawn, this child so long foretold.
This is the Saviour of us all, the Gentiles’ promised Light,
God’s glory dwelling in our midst, the joy of Israel.
All glory to the Father be, All glory to the Son,
All glory, Holy Ghost to thee, while endless ages run.
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: When the Lord comes, he will bring to light things now hidden in shadow, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore, let us confess our sins, confident in God’s mercy.
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:
COLLECT FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, 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:
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake.
Or
O Lord, who by triumphing over the powers of darkness didst prepare our place in the new Jerusalem: Grant us, who have this day given thanks for thy resurrection, to praise thee in that city, whereof thou art the light; where with the Father and the Holy Ghost, thou livest and reigned one God, world without end.
CHOIR: Amen.
The READER announces the anthem to be sung.
ANTHEM: Ecce advenit dominator Dominus – William Byrd (1543-1623)
Behold! the Sovereign, the Lord is coming,
and the kingdom is in his hand, and power, and dominion.
Give the King your justice, O God, *
and your righteousness to the King’s son.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
[Text adapt. from Isaiah 10:33, I Chronicles 29:12, and Psalm 72:1 with Gloria Patri]
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.
READER: We have waited in silence for thy loving kindness, O God,
CHOIR: In the midst of thy Temple.
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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