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the bells start tolling in the half hour or so before Compline begins.

We sit down and wait for a moment, hear other people shuffle in.

It still looks like there’s no one up front, just the light. But then, it begins.

“Compline fits into a larger pattern of prayer at various times a day, the last prayer, and here at Christchurch, we do that as an offering and a welcome to the city.”

And the city is here. 

“ In the darkness, you can be with your friends, or you can be alone, you can be with God if you are talking to God or, or not. And that’s up to you.”

“It feels like I’m turning inward, but also with a bunch of other people that are turning inward.”

“And so it’s often like praying for my friends and then my friends praying for me in return.”

“It’s a thing that brings them some sort of joy or peace or moment of contemplation, whatever is working for them.”

The singing stops. We prepare to leave the quiet.