Compline on Friday

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Friday & daily in Lent & Passiontide

THE PREPARATION

The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. Amen.

Our help is in the name of the Lord
Who made heaven and earth.

A period of silence follows, for reflection on the past day. Words of penitence may be used; the following or some other.

Most merciful God,
we confess to you,
before the whole company of heaven
   and one another,
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and in what we have failed to do.
Forgive us our sins,
heal us by your Spirit
and raise us to new life in Christ. Amen.

Or:

Holy God,
holy and strong,
holy and immortal:
have mercy on us.
 

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and shall be forever.
Amen. [Alleluja! (Omitted in Lent)]

A HYMN may be sung, the following or some other.

Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep
Your watch around us while we sleep.

From evil dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the night;
Tread under foot our deadly foe
That we no sinful thought may know.

Ordinary Doxology
O Father, that we ask be done
Through Jesus Christ, your only Son;
And Holy Spirit, by whose breath
Our souls are raised to life from death. Amen.

Lent Doxology
Grant, ever blessèd Trinity,
And ever perfect Unity,
That this, our fast of forty days,
May work our profit and your praise. Amen.

Passiontide Doxology
To you, O saving Three in One,
Let homage due by all be done;
And grant us, by the cross restored,
To share the Victor’s great reward. Amen.

THE WORD OF GOD

THE PSALMODY

From PSALM 139

   
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me;*
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
   you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before*
and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;*
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit?*
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;*
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning*
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me*
and your right hand hold me fast.
10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night’,
11 Darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts;*
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
13 I will thank you because I am marvellously made;*
your works are wonderful and I know it well.
14 My body was not hidden from you,*
while I was being made in secret
   and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my limbs,
   yet unfinished in the womb;*
all of them were written in your book.
16 They were fashioned day by day,*
   when as yet there was none of them.
17 How deep I find your thoughts, O God!*
how great is the sum of them!
18 If I were to count them,
   they would be more in number than the sand;*
to count them all,
   my life span would need to be like yours.
19 Search me out, O God, and know my heart;*
try me and know my restless thoughts.
20 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me*
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.

The psalm may end with:

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and shall be forever.
Amen. [Alleluja! (Omitted in Lent)]

THE READING: one of the following or some other.

God has not destined us to the terrors of judgement but to the full attainment of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we wake or sleep, we might live with him.

1 Thessalonians 5. 9-10

Or (and especially in Lent):

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke¿ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Isaiah 58. 6, 7

Or (and especially in Passiontide):

On that day, I will pour out on my people a spirit of compassion so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born.

Zechariah 12. 8, 10

Or on feasts of Martyrs:

Love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave: its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.

Song of Songs 8. 6-7

THE RESPONSORY may be said.

Into your hands, O Lord,
   I commend my spirit. (Alleluia! Alleluia!)
Into your hands, O Lord,
   I commend my spirit. (Alleluia! Alleluia!)

For you have redeemed me, Lord God of truth.
I commend my spirit. (Or: Alleluia! Alleluia!)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
   and to the Holy Spirit:
Into your hands, O Lord,
   I commend my spirit. (Alleluia! Alleluia!)

Keep me as the apple of your eye.
Hide me under the shadow of your wings.

THE GOSPEL CANTICLE: NUNC DIMITTIS (39)

   
R: Save us,* O Lord, while waking,
and guard us while sleeping,
that awake we may watch with Christ,
and asleep may rest in peace.
Or, in Lent:
R: Christ died for us,*
so that, whether we wake or sleep,
we might live with him.
Or, in Passiontide:
R: Christ himself bore our sins
in his body on the tree,*
that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness.
Or, on feasts:
R: Grant us your light, O Lord,*
that the darkness of our hearts being overcome,
we may receive the true light,
even Christ our Saviour.
1 Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace:*
your word has been fulfilled.
2 My own eyes have seen the salvation*
which you have prepared in the sight of every people;
3 A light to reveal you to the nations*
and the glory of your people Israel.           Luke 2. 29-32

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and shall be forever.
Amen. [Alleluja! (Omitted in Lent)]

The refrain is repeated after the canticle.

THE PRAYERS

Intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered here, or at any point in this section.

THE COLLECT: one of the following or some other.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
who at this evening hour lay in the tomb
and so hallowed the grave
to be a bed of hope
for all who put their trust in you:
give us such sorrow for our sins,
which were the cause of your passion,
that, when our bodies lie in the dust,
our souls may live with you for ever. Amen. 6*

Or in Lent:

Almighty God,
may we, by the prayer and discipline of Lent,
enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings;
that by following in the Way,
we may come to share in the glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or (and especially in Passiontide):

Almighty God,
as we stand at the foot of the cross of your Son,
help us to see and know your love for us,
so that in humility, love and joy
we may place at his feet
all that we have and all that we are;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER may be said.

[As we come to the ending of the day,
let us pray as our Redeemer has taught us:]

Our Father, 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.

[For thine is the kingdom,
   the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
] Amen.

A devotional ANTHEM may be sung here, or after the blessing.

THE BLESSING

In peace, we will lie down and sleep;
For you alone, Lord, make us dwell in safety.

Abide with us, Lord Jesus,
For the night is at hand and the day is now past.

As the night-watch looks for the morning,
So do we look for you, O Christ.

[Come with the dawning of the day
And make yourself known
in the breaking of the bread.
]

May God bless us,
that in us may be found love and humility,
obedience and thanksgiving,
discipline, gentleness and peace. Amen.

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