Tomorrow I leave for Seattle where I will join Carl Crosier in a celebration of Peter Hallock’s music and the Compline service at St. Mark’s Cathedral. (Carl has been on the East Coast visiting his sister and former “Complinite,” Linden Doescher.) The Seattle Compline Choir has a new tradition of inviting alumni to sing with them at Compline on or about the time of Peter Hallock’s birthday, which is Tuesday. This year there will be a dinner at 6 pm followed by the release and book signing of a new publication called Prayer as Night Falls: Experiencing Compline by Ken Peterson, who has sung in the Seattle group for nearly fifty years.

We first met Ken in 1979 when the Seattle Compline Choir traveled to Hawaii to be a part of the American Guild of Organists Region IX Convention. Since then, every time we have been in Seattle (which is several times a year), we have renewed our friendships with Ken and other members of the Compline Choir. Now Ken has written a book about the Compline phenomenon, which weekly worships hundreds of people, most of them young. A bunch of them lay on the floor during the service! Ken writes about light and darkness, death and life, and finding lasting peace which come out of the Compline service.

Here is a video where Ken talks about the book and his nearly fifty year experience in the Compline Choir. It  includes snatches of the Compline Choir singing Peter Hallock’s music in the unique space of St. Mark’s Cathedral. If you would like to have more information about the book, click here for the Prayer as Night Falls website. The website contains links to the weekly podcast of the Compline service, Ken Peterson’s blog, and ordering information.