Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 31 August 2021

May we sleep this night and, waking tomorrow,
seize the day and its opportunities and make the love of Jesus, the Christ, known in all we are and do 🙏

The image is that of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651.

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 30 August 2021

God of peace, who called your servant John Bunyan to be valiant for truth; grant that as strangers and pilgrims we may at the last rejoice with all Christian people in your heavenly city: Amen.

 

The image is that of John Bunyan

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 29 August 2021

The cross - an instrument of torture becomes the means by which we are reconciled to God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Laying all before the Lord, we entrust ourselves, and all creation, into your loving arms that we might sleep and tomorrow rise to a new day of blessing. 

Lord be with us, and all creation, we pray.

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 28 August 2021

Who have we in heaven but You, O lord?
In this broken world we find healing and wholeness, peace and forgiveness.
Enfold us, and all creation, in Your loving arms this night we pray. Amen.

The image is that of Augustine of Hippo

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 23 August 2021

The seasons slowly change and darkness is once again our companion as the day ends.
But the light of Christ shines and cannot be overcome.
So we pray for those in dark places and for those who marched away making a differnce.
Some paying with broken bodies and minds and even life itself.
dona eis requiem.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 22 August 2021

The gathered fragments of the day reflecting all that has been are laid at the foot of the cross.
Lord bring healing and peace and as we sleep enable us to wake to a new day of blessing given and received. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 21 August 2021

Stay with us, O God, this night,
so that by your strength we may rise with the new day
to rejoice in the resurrection of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The image is that of the Transfiguration.

Compline (night prayer) - Friday, 20 August 2021

God has called us; we who are so often weak, flawed and broken.
As laos (the people of God) standing with others in the faith, we are Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against us.
Cradle us, tend us and bring us sleep this night we pray.

The images are Bernard of Clairvaux, Catherine and William Booth.

Compline (night prayer) - Thursday, 19 August 2021

Life, that divine spark within us,  gifts us with the ability to create.
We reflect on the day and find within us that place of peace in images, sound, smell, words
and let peace cover us like a blanket as we head for our beds.

The image is Michelangelo's Creation of Adam.

Compline (night prayer) - Wednesday, 18 August 2021

Do we believe Jesus, the Christ, died for us?
If we do then as we close the day what makes that belief real for us?
Does the one salvific act on the cross for you transform you (and me and us)?
New every morning is Your love and our opportunities - hallelujah!

The image is 'Jesus at the Tomb' by Jean Jacques Henner

Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 17, August 2021

As we go to our beds, reflecting upon all the day has been for us and the world,
teach us how to pray effectively rather than become angry or apathetic.
Lord, hear our prayer.

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 15 August 2021

May Your Church Lord follow the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary in its willingness to do whatsoever You call us to be or think or do. We thank you for this hero of the faith and her example to us.

 

 The image is that of the Virgin Mary

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 14 August 2021

Maximilian Kolbe - A Franciscan 'intellectual, imprisoned in Auschwitz, exchanged places with a prisoner sentenced to die. The man lived to tell the tale of Kolbe's action and having been given his life back, vowed to live differently.

We were dead until Jesus gave His life for us - may we live differently too.

 

 The image is that of Maximilian Kolbe

Compline (night prayer) - Friday, 13 August 2021

Night falls and the reality that, whether we are awake or asleep we live with God through the shedding of the blood of Jesus, the Christ, for our redemption. May we awake tomorrow to a day of blessing and grace. Amen.

The images are Jeremy Taylor, Florence Nightingale and Octavia Hill

Compline (night prayer) - Thursday, 12 August 2021

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep this night,
and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick, give rest to the weary, sustain the dying,
calm the suffering, and pity the distressed;
all for your love's sake, O Christ our Redeemer. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Wednesday, 11 August 2021

Lord, contemplating Your presence in us, with us and around us; 

may we rejoice in the blessings of the day and lay all it has been at the foot of the cross; 

and waking tomorrow may we walk more closely with You. Amen.

 

 The images are Clare of Assisi and John Henry Newman

Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 10 August 2021

Closing the day we reflect on the 'small gods' of this world; possessions which possess us.

May we strive for the things of God rather than the idols of the world. 

Lord grant us strength and peace this night. Amen.

 

 The image is: Laurence - Deacon at Rom: Martyred 258 AD

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 9 August 2021

For the small moments of joy, the ephemera of blessing found in the glimpses of Your love,
we bring all the day has held and, with gratitude, lay all at Your feet Lord.
Be with us, and all creation, this night we pray. Amen.

The image is that of Mary Sumner - founder of the Mothers' Union - 1921

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 8 August 2021

The day ends and the realisation that there's nothing we can do to earn God's favour, no price we can pay for God's Grace to us. For it is freely given to us by the death and resurrection of the Christ. Hallelujah!

 

The image is Rublev's Trinity

Compline (night prayer) - Saturday, 7 August 2021

The day ends and we lay all that it has held and been, and all that clings to us like dust, before you Lord. Take the burdens and the joys, the blessings (given and received) and our failing from us and grant us sleep this night we pray. Amen.

The image is that of John Mason

Compline (night prayer) - Friday, 6 August 2021

In the Transfiguration we see Jesus as He is.

As we reflect on the day now closing,

may we be be transformed by prayer and, listening to Him,

transform our lives and the lives of those around us. Amen.

The image is that of the transfiguration

Compline (night prayer) - Thursday, 5 August 2021

At the end of this day, handing all it has been and entrusting ourselves into God's care, we reflect on the end of the day that is death.

We pray for those with life-shortening and terminal illness, those who are naturally approaching the close of day and all who suffer in body, mind and spirit.

Lord, tend the sick, give rest to the weary, sustain the dying, calm the suffering and pity the distressed; all for your love's sake. Amen

 

 The image is: Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642

Compline (night prayer) - Wednesday, 4 August 2021

Tonight as we reflect on the ending day we rejoice in the calling of Jean Vianney - a priest of humble origins. No academic, but a man with a heart of humility, love and devotion to God and the people in his care.

May these be the hallmarks of our lives also we pray.

 

 The image is that of Jean–Baptiste Vianney,

Compline (night prayer) - Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Tonight we reflect on our aims and our responses to the day.
Lord help us to live in peace with You, those around us and most importantly ourselves.

May your shalom surround us and those for whom we pray - and for all people. Amen.

Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 2 August 2021

Tonight, as we prepare for bed,
we reflect on the blessings received this day (and beyond) and blessings given this day.
The small blessings which when reflected upon against the needs of others
brings gratitude and thanks as we go to our beds in peace.

 

 The image is the baptism of Jesus

Compline (night prayer) - Sunday, 1 August 2021

The day ends and we bring all it has been before the Lord.
Be with us this night as we sleep - surround us with Your peace that we might sleep and,
rising tomorrow, share Your love and life with all we meet. Amen.

 

 The image is St Francis of Assisi