The Compline Community
stop, breathe, pray
Those forming this new ecumenical worshipping community as part of the Northstowe Church Network find silence and poetic liturgy a powerful way to be with others in community and to encounter God together.
Whatever your background - whether you are just starting to explore your spirituality, or a pilgrim dusty from the journey, you are are welcome to rest in God's presence with us.
The Compline Community meet in a private home on alternate Thursday evenings: sign up to the Compline WhatsApp Broadcast for reminders of the venue each week.
Thursday Complines (Fortnightly during Term, 8-9pm)
Once a fortnight during Term we gather - often at Revd Beth or Revd Stephen's homes, sometimes around a campfire (weather permitting), to weave extended periods of silence (using the Northstowe Sandtimers) into the ancient poetic "service of Completion" - Compline, also known as Night Prayer. Message us to confirm the venue. or join the Compline Broadcast List on WhatsApp (not a group-chat - just GDPR secure updates)
- Please arrive from 8pm (not before)
- Prayer start at 8.15pm,
- Concludes by 9pm, at which point we leave in silence - giving the option for the last words of the day being addressed to God.
[This has evolved from the previous "Chicken Soup for the Soul" gatherings]
Communion Meals
During a Communion Meal, we share in the familiar opening prayers from a communion service as we gather around the table. We then "break open" scripture - reading the biblical account of the day, and then discussing it while we eat our main course (often jacket potatoes, with each person bringing and sharing a topping). Afterwards, we reset the table with bread, grapes, and wine... and turn to the Great Thanksgiving Prayer. We retell the story of the Last Supper, and share in bread and wine. This service is filled with beautiful poetry, and a deep sense of encounter with God and each other.We hold a Communion Meal loosely once a term, replacing a regular Compline. We love to invite those from across the whole Northstowe Church Network. We normally mark both Maundy Thursday and Ascension in this way.
This year, Ascension falls on May 9th. It marks the conclusion of forty days of joyful Easter celebration, during which the Church recalls the 40 days when Jesus appeared to his disciples many times and told them about the kingdom of God. On Ascension Day, we tell how he left this earth and returned to his Father, ascending into heaven to take his throne over all dominions and powers.
What is compline?
“Compline” is the ancient monastic service of “Completion”.
In the 8th century, Benedictine monks began a pattern of praying 8 eight times a day: Matins (before dawn), Lauds (at sunrise), then Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers throughout the day (each about three hours apart). Finally, at bedtime, Compline. Today, Anglican prayer books offer four such ‘offices’ – morning, midday, evening, and night. Like most prayer offices, Compline includes a confession, a reading from the Psalms and other Scriptures, written and responsive prayers, and a time for silence or extemporaneous prayer.
This final service of the day is an opportunity to reflect on the day that has passed, to peak through a small window of Scripture into the Big Story of God’s ongoing encounter with his people, and to draw on words hallowed by tradition as “a way to wade into the ongoing stream of the church’s communion with [God],”* as Tish Harrison Warren expresses it. She goes on to explain “Scripted prayers—the prayers of Compline, the Psalms, or any other received prayers—are not static. As we pray them, we read our own lives back into the words we pray. Our own biographies shape our understanding of these prayers as much as these prayers shape us and our own stories.”
* Warren, Tish Harrison. Prayer in the Night (pp. 7, 125).
Want to find out more? A good place to start is Tish Harrison Warren’s excellent book “Prayer in the Night; for those who work or watch or weep”. An American Anglican priest, she combines her own personal experiences of prayer in a time of suffering [trigger warning: miscarriage and bereavement] with a rooted and thoughtful unpacking of the wonderful ancient tradition of Prayer in the Night.
Communion Meals (booking required)
At several points through the year we gather for a laid back meal together, weaving beautiful poetic words with extended discussion of scripture as we eat together. We draw our prayers and conversation together by sharing in bread and wine - celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion as we recognise our meal table as the Lord's Table.We often invite others from across the Northstowe Church Network to join these special occasions.
The next communion meal is on Maundy Thursday.
Network events with the Northstowe Church Network
We delight to be part of the wider Northstowe Church Network, and join in with termly Afternoon Teas, membership meetings, and joint special events at Festivals.- Read more about the Network on the About Us page
- Find out about upcoming Afternoon Teas and other special events on the Network Events page
Useful Prayer Resources
Ten Minutes of Silence with our Northstowe Sand Timer
Centering Prayer (one way to pray with Silence)
Useful Prayer Apps and Prayer Podcasts
Church of England Daily Prayer - Access web-based full-text versions of CofE Services of Daily Prayer, which are available in both Contemporary (Common Worship) and Traditional (Book of Common Prayer) forms and for all times of the day. Audio files are also available. With links to Time to Pray and Daily Prayer Apps.
Pray as you go - Pray As You Go is a daily, audio prayer app that helps you to encounter God wherever you are. This will help you to pray whenever you find the time, but particularly whilst travelling to and from work or study.
