Lutheran church hosting ancient Christian praise

An ancient form of Christian praise and worship will be presented tomorrow by choral singers at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

A choir of 12 men who sing chants, psalms and prayers each Sunday at a 9 p.m. Compline service will also perform at the 9:15 a.m. Sunday service. The event marks the 30th anniversary of the observance of Compline at the church at 1730 Punahou St.

Church cantor Carl Crosier said men from several different churches, who have sung at the Compline service in the past, will join current choristers in the program, which will feature compositions by Edward Bairstow and Giovanni de Palestrina.

The practice of marking the liturgical hours morning, midday, evening and night developed in European monasteries in the fifth century, Crosier said. Lutheran and Anglican churches turned morning Matins, evening Vespers and Compline -- sung before going to sleep -- into public services.

Crosier instituted the Compline service after taking the position of music director at Lutheran Church of Honolulu. As a college student, he had attended Compline in the Seattle Episcopal cathedral. "The service at St. Mark's draws big crowds. It is filled with teenagers," he said.

Besides Gregorian chant, the choir sings polyphonic choral music from the 15th and 16th centuries and some modern compositions, he said.

The weekly Compline is a candlelight service about 30 minutes long. "A lot of the regulars use it as a form of meditation," Crosier said.