As in many other parishes, we hold an additional prayer office each week in Lent. Compline has settled into being the office we use most years, though Vespers and Evening Prayer have had their turns. But what of the readings?

There are several good options - the readings from The Treasury of Daily Prayer probably make the most sense. If you are encouraging your people to be about the Daily Office, then this is the place to start. Or reading through the catechism - as Lent is the time of catechesis in the liturgical year. Or preaching on the previous Sunday's Epistle, or through the Easter Vigil readings one per week. All of these ideas are great and are, in my opinion, vastly superior to the canned and often down right corny themed series available from a host of Christian publishers: Crosses of Lent, Valleys of Lent, Disciples of Lent. And please, please, Pastor: no play acting from the pulpit. Please do not dress up and pretend you are St Peter or Barabbas or Pontius Pilate. Please.

Lent is for catechesis, not only for the congregation, but for the preacher. As such, this year I want to reread Luther's Galatians commentary and our readings for Compline will simply be a continuous reading of that book.

+HRC