A Vesper Light

Simplicity and Serenity in Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer

The evening prayers in the Book of Common Prayer are beautifully serene in their simplicity. The following prayer has found a home in my heart as a concise and most personal prayer of my life:

Grant to your faithful people, merciful Lord, pardon and peace; that we may be cleansed from all our sins, and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As John Donne spoke of “immensity cloistered” in Mary’s womb, so, too, one finds eternity tabernacled in these few words. The prayer encapsulates the essence of faith, humility, and the yearning for spiritual peace and redemption, all in a careful, but not fastidious, sentence. Consider how the posture of this prayer can shape the soul as we pray.

There is a Posture of Humility

The prayer begins with a humble plea to the “merciful Lord” for “pardon and peace”, acknowledging human fallibility and the need for divine forgiveness. As Dr. Robert L. Reymond used to say to us in seminary class, "Always remember that the way up is down. The way to exultation is humility.”

There is a Posture of Supplication

The request to be “cleansed from all our sins” further emphasizes this theme of seeking purification and redemption. It reflects the belief in the transformative power of God’s divine mercy in Christ Jesus to cleanse and renew weary souls.

There is a Posture of Stillness

The desire to “serve you with a quiet mind” expresses the believer’s aspiration and need for inner peace with an accompanying tranquility. This phrase is arguable the very tenderloin on the prayer. At the conclusion of the day, as we make our prayers, we must separate ourselves from the frantic kinetic energy of the day and seek stillness of spirit before the Lord. The prayer beseeches the Lord to grant us freedom from turmoil and distraction, enabling a more focused and sincere worship. In this way, our very sleep might become an act of worship.

There is a Posture of Love

As the prayer finds its coda, its lyrical denouement in the blessed phrase, “through Jesus Christ our Lord”, we are not only affirming our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as the only mediator between God and man, but we are saying that our Mediator is also our Friend, our Savior, "The King of Love Our Shepherd Is." There is a sweetness and tenderness to this conclusion that further seasons our soul for the gift of sleep.

We say “amen” not to close the prayer, but to give a final word of trust that the God who has called us to prayer hears our prayers and answers our prayers. Thus, we may leave all matters to His sovereign grace and take our rest.

But more than anything else, there is the settled knowledge that our God and heavenly Father hears our prayers and answer them. Therefore, we may say with the psalmist, “I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).

And thus we are better disposed to rest, and in resting more nearly prepared to awake to serve Him until we shall awake to see Him. And all of this in a simple prayer that each of us can say even now.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.