Compline

A prayer that I have referred to many times this year:

Search me, O God, and know my heart:  test me and know my thoughts.  See if there is any wicked way in me:  and lead me in your way of life.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, Amen.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest,
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

(Psalm134)
Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord:  you that stand by night in the house of the Lord.  Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord:  the Lord who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.

I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

This is what we are about:  we plant the seeds that will one day grow.  We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold promise.  We lay foundations that will need further development.  We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.   This enables us to do something, and to do it well.  It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.  We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.  We are prophets of a future not our own.

I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.  For you have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth.  Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings.

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work or watch or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.  Tend the sick, Lord Christ, give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous, and all for your love's sake, Amen.