The Compline Community
Fortnightly* gatherings to share in silence and the poetry of Compline (“Night Prayer”), as well as regular communion meals
[*During Advent, we're meeting every week!]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)
- 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.
Advent Book
*During Advent, we're meeting every Thursday, as we read from Rachel Mann's Do No Be Afraid Advent book, and use those reflections to inspire our prayers.'Waiting can be beautiful and, at least sometimes, it takes us to the heart of the Holy.'
As much at home with Strictly Come Dancing as the mystical writings of Julian of Norwich, Rachel Mann writes with disarming verve of something we all experience - waiting.
It may seem unlikely when you're stuck on a train, or nervously anticipating hospital treatment, or simply fearful of an uncertain future, that there is treasure to be found in the waiting. Yet the Psalmist says, 'I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.'
These luminous meditations tell stories of God waiting with us when we're in fear or distress; of coming - bidden or unbidden - to relieve our loneliness; of disconcerting us, desiring us and surprising us with joy... Most of all they remind us that Jesus Christ comes into the world as one long waited for; as the servant who waits on others; as the one on whom we are, adoringly, called to wait.
Covering 4 weeks, each meditation ends with a prayer and questions for reflection, which may be used by individuals or groups."
We hold a Communion Meal loosely once a term, sometimes 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.
SAVE THE DATE: We will hold a Communion Meal during the season of All Saints and All Souls: 8pm on Thursday 7th November at Church House, 6 Woodpecker Close, Northstowe CB24 1AW
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.
Where next for the Compline Community?
As this community matures, it is likely to become the "home community" in the Chapel By The Lake. So we look forward to seeing what might develop!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 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.
