“To You, Before the Close of Day” ELW 567
1 To you, before the close of day,
Creator of the world, we pray!
Your grace and peace to us allow
And be our guard and keeper now.
2 From evil dreams our sight,
From all the terrors of the night,
From all deluding thoughts that creep
On heedless minds disarmed by sleep.
3 O Father, this we ask be done
Through Jesus Christ, your only Son,
Who with the Holy Ghost and you
Shall live and reign all ages through.
Amen
Devotion
Compline (Night Prayer) is an ancient worship pattern that individuals or communities pray just before they go to bed. It is the faith community's extended form of "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" that we teach our children. This hymn has been sung at this service since the 6th century. "Save us from troubled, restless sleep, from all ill dreams your children keep" (v. 2). Focus on God's care even when nightmares disturb sleep or we first reach for sleeping pills. A related prayer in Compline is worth memorizing and using before sleep: "Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace."
Prayer
Be present, merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of life may find our rest in you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (a classic prayer from the Service of Night Prayer: ELW, p. 325)