Notice
Compline is off for the summer as the Cantor, Caleb Briggs, is leaving for seminary. The ministry will return in late August with Ailene Neal serving as the new Cantor. Please join us in praying for Caleb as he starts a new chapter and Ailene as she begins her new ministry!
Watch Sung Compline
Sung Compline
Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 7 p.m.
Holy Family Chapel, St. Anne’s Sancturary
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Compline is the ancient Christian prayer for the close of the day and originates at least from the 6th century Rule of St. Benedict. The service is led by a lay Cantor and consists of prayer, confession of sin; Psalm singing; a brief, chanted scriptural reading; and a few short antiphons before the benediction. The whole service generally lasts less than 15 minutes and encourages silent contemplation, before, during, and after. We hope you will join us!
If you are interested in becoming a cantor, we encourage you to attend a few services and e-mail Caleb Briggs (communications@stannes-annapolis.org).
FAQs
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Absolutely not! All are welcome at this service and all are invited but not required to sing.
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Like the score to a movie, singing adds a layer of meaning and intentionality to our liturgy. We are reminded that we are not just saying words, but are sending our prayers up to God in the last hour of our waking day. Our plaintive chant and melodies are a cry to God to always be present—even in the dark of night. Hence we sing the antiphon: “Guide us waking O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.”
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Similar to the reason for singing, incense enchances our worship and reminds us that we are in a Holy Place. Our senses all serve to remind us that we are here for prayer and evokes the Psalmist, saying “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” (Ps. 141:2)
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Compline offers a serene place of prayer and contemplation at the end of the day and allows us to commend our prayers to God as we beg Him to “grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end.”
A Brief History of Compline in the Episcopal Church
The ancient offices of Compline and Vespers were combined into Evening Prayer by Thomas Cranmer when he penned the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. For nearly 400 years, Compline was largely gone from Anglican liturgy until the Episcopal Church included it in its 1914 Book of Offices. 14 years later, it was included in the 1928 BCP in the Church of England, but did not appear in the mainstream in the U.S. until the publication of the 1979 BCP that we use today.
Evening Prayer remains a separate, beautiful, and distinct liturgy and is said at 5:30 p.m. every weekday at St. Anne’s and online. Compline is sung at St. Anne’s not as an alternative to evening prayer, but as an addition to our offerings as a community of prayer.