The Compline Choir

After Mars Hill we went to St. Mark's Cathedral for their Compline Choir service. Basically there are like seven prayers that monks do throughout the day, the last of these is the Office of Compline. Well, some music students started sing it every Sunday night back in the 50's and then it kind of caught on and tons of young people would come to hear. Then in the 60's they started broadcasting it on the radio (Interesting side note, the service is actually supposed to last twelve minutes, but they extended it to half an hour to fit the radio slot. See, technology does affect our worship). Now there is a eighteen man choir that sings it from nine-thirty to ten every Sunday night. Tons of people come to just sit and listen.
The real amazing thing about it is how many young people are there. We got there a little early, and we walked around the immense room in awe. It is so amazing in there. They have the lighting done very well in the room. Already people were starting to take their positions. Teenagers in every corner huddled in thought. Numerous people are sitting through out the pews, just sitting and listening to the silence. On emo type girl sits right in the middle of the highly light stage, right next to the altar, writing in her journal. The room is unfinished and the walls are covered with mildew. The cold floor echoes your steps as you walk around the room. One of the most amazing features is the pipe organ in the back. I have never seen everything like it. It's huge rusty pipes controlled by this little keyboard in the balcony.
We decided to just sit on the stage, a little weird because everyone in the pews is looking right at you, but we wanted a place to lie down. It may seem weird, but that is how it works. There are no rules about where you have to sit. Some people bring blankets and pillows, and pretty soon the stage is full of people.
The choir files in quietly and takes their position in the very back of the sanctuary. They say a prayer and then begin to sing. To tell you the truth, it was a little quieter than I had expected, but I guess it is a big room to fill. I just lay back and closed my eyes and listened to this amazing music just surround me. After a while I sat up and started looking around at the other people. I was amazed to see how many more people there were. The whole floor was covered with people, and everyone had their eyes closed with their head either bowed or looking upwards. You could almost see the sound soaring around the room.
One of the most touching points of the service was when this little girl walked down the isle with her stuffed animal and lay down right before the altar. And there she lay clutching her stuffed animal. It was such an incredible symbol.
When it was over, there was a special organ recital afterwards. That was incredible as well, and let me tell you, it can really fill the room. One guy from our group made the comment while walking around listen that he just felt like he should pray or something. There is something amazing about a worship space like that that allows you have such a different encounter with God. We could see a couple people in the balcony where the organist was, so a couple guys from our group snooped around to try and find I way up there. I followed and boy was it worth it. We got to be right behind the organist and watch him as he controlled this amazing instrument that surrounded us all.
Right before we left we were talking to someone form the church in the foyer. He found out that we were a class and he let us into this little side chapel. It is the only actual finished part of the building. The rest of the cathedral was supposed to resemble it, but after the stock market crash and the Great Depression, there was no money to do it. It was pretty cool that we got that little sneak peak though.
Well that was my experience of St. Mark's Cathedral and the Compline Choir. I would suggest it to anyone for their next trip to Seattle. Actually it is a must see. If I lived in Seattle it would be the perfect Sunday night wind down to prepare me for the week. Also check out the web links above and get the real story.