Tonight at 8:30 pm, the Congregation of St. Saviour will host a virtual Compline, a service of readings and prayers said before bed. In monastic communities, Compline is used to mark the beginning of a nightly silence.

To use your computer, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/2123167483. You will be prompted to download the Zoom app. After Zoom is installed, click the link at 8:30 PM and you will join the Compline service.

To use a phone, please dial 929-205-6099, and then enter the following Meeting ID: 212 316 7483.

Canon Steven Lee, Vicar of the Congregation, writes:

If you are anything like me, you are feeling out of sorts after just a few days of physical distancing. From being quarantined at home. From being forced to learn new digital platforms in order to stay connected. From staring at a computer screen all day.

Perhaps you could use Compline the way it is used in the monastic communities, as a boundary marker, to mark out the beginning of a Great (Digital) Silence. Before the service, check your email for the final time and reply to anything urgent, write one final comment on your friend's Facebook post, and then be ready to join us in Compline.

After the service is over, put away your phone and turn off your computer, and let your digital life enter into a holy silence. No more phones or computers. Instead, re-enter real life and open a book, or doodle with a pencil on real paper, or just stare out the window and let your mind wander. Remember that God loves you and that this too shall pass.

As in the monastery, let this Great Digital Silence run through breakfast the next morning, so that instead of checking the news or reading your emails upon first waking up, remain blissfully free from the phone and the computer and all the obligations and anxieties they demand.

Only after breakfast, turn on the computer and check your phone. Now, you can re-enter the digital world, perhaps a little more refreshed and with a clearer mind and more centered spirit, after this digital fast.