I have been guided by the Book of Common Prayer (1979) since a course introduction during my M.A. in Christian Spiritual Formation in 2021. I was familiar with Compline and the other daily offices before reading this book. Warren's meditations on the Compline prayer is grounded in her own experiences of insomnia, weeping and watching, the suffering of illness, death of loved ones, and the vast questions of theodicy. Her struggles of faith, mourning, and depression are shared with candor and humor. Though I have had this book since its publication, I took it off the shelf on my way to hospice, to sit vigil with my 92-year-old mother trapped in dementia, hoping I would find something to hold in my heart during the nights. I was not left wanting. Grief is deeply personal; her words cannot speak to "all" but to many. ( )

This is not as good as her debut Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life ( a hard act to follow) but still very good.

Warren writes about the Night Prayer - Compline - taking almost every word or small sentence for each chapter. Very good thoughts on prayer, sickness, suffering, death.

The Night Prayer (Compline):
Keep watch, dear Lord,
with those who wake, or watch, or weep this night,
and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick,
give rest to the weary,
sustain the dying,
calm the suffering,
and pity the distressed;
all for your love’s sake, O Christ our Redeemer. ( )

An okay read. But Christianity Today's 2022 Book of the Year? Wowsers. Starts with an apology of sorts for referring to God with He/Him pronouns...but when the author is a "Priest/Pastor" (I guess "Priestess" would be too pagan even for the Anglican church).... She does give lip service to the authority and inerrancy of God's Word, but there is a dose of mysticism sprinkled throughout the book, but again, "Priest/Pastor". Still a decent read...and much Kudos to the author for having the breadth (depth?) to be able to site the likes of C.S Lewis, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine,...and Modest Mouse (ah, the memories)!

I would also like to applaud her openness. To share the hurt (that only the women in the audience can probably truly understand) that comes from miscarriages is admirable. I trust those reflections will help many who have gone through the same. ( )

Organized around and explaining why an ancient nighttime prayer can be so effective in our lives, this book speaks powerfully to every reader. Because every reader has been or is currently weeping, waiting, watching, suffering, afflicted, joyful, sick, and weary. And one day we will all die. Tish Warren, displaying an impressive breadth of literacy, quotes everyone from church fathers to modern poets as she describes the common bonds shared by humanity—needs and situations so great that only the love of God can meet them. She dares to answer the question "why does evil exist?" and constantly points to the "speed of light" universal constant: Jesus Christ.

I don't often weep through books but in every chapter something got stuck in my eye. Tish offers excellent theology wrapped in personal stories of suffering and joy—ones that helped forge her faith in such a way that she is now equipped to share with us. Get this book and savor it slowly.

How can we trust God in the dark? Framed around the nighttime prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, explores themes of human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence. When she navigated a time of doubt and loss, the prayer was grounding for her. She writes: "It was this practice that gave me words for my anxiety and grief and allowed me to reencounter doctrines of the church-the church's claims about reality-not as rational, tidy little antidotes for pain but as a light in darkness, as good news." Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night? This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty. (Publisher comments)