Cantica Gaudia

Advent: Sunday Compline

Confession:  We forgive ourselves and each other, and we begin again in love...

For remaining silent when a single voice would have made a difference

For each time that our fears have made us rigid and inaccessible

For each time that we have struck out in anger without just cause

For each time that our greed has blinded us to the needs of others

For the selfishness which sets us apart and alone

For falling short of the admonitions of the spirit

For losing sight of our oneness with all of creation

For those and for so many acts both evident and subtle, which have fueled the illusion of separateness.

Canticle: My soul rejoices in the Lord,
My spirit leaps before my God and savior,
Who favors his waiting servant.
Listen!
From now on, everyone will call me happy!
For the heavens did great things unto me,
Holy is his name
From this time and forever,
Mercy flows to those who fear him.
His strong arm spread,
He scatters the thoughts of arrogant hearts,
He snatches the powerful from high places
And lifts up the empty.
The hungry are fed delicious food
And the rich sent away with nothing.
His child Israel is clothed in forgiveness,
Just as he spoke to our fathers,
Abraham and his seed forever.

Reading: I thank you, deep power
That works me ever more lightly
In ways I can’t make out.
The day’s labor grows simple now,
And like a holy face
Held in my dark hands.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be your 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,
And the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.  Amen.

Prayer:  May a good vision catch me
May a benevolent vision take hold of me, and move me
May a deep and full vision come over me, and burst open around me
May a luminous vision inform me, enfold me.
May I awaken into the story that surrounds,
May I awaken into the beautiful story.
May the wondrous story find me;
May the wildness that makes beauty arise between two lovers arise beautifully between my body and the body of this land, between my flesh and the flesh of this earth, here and now, on this day,
May I taste something sacred.

Going Forth: Let us bless the Lord, in darkness and in light, in silence and in song. Amen.