WHAT IS MASS?

The Mass is the celebration of the sacrament of Christ's body and blood, and the principal act of Christian worship. In Anglicanism (and other catholic and protestant traditions) this service goes by many names: the Holy Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, the Office of Holy Communion, the Divine Liturgy, and the Great Offertory.

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The word Mass is primarily used by Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Lutherans. It is derived from the Latin missa, which is from mittere, "to send." It was a part of the dismissal in the medieval Latin Mass, Ite, missa est ("Go, it is finished").

Low Mass is simple, spoken celebration of the Eucharist in which the celebrant is assisted by only one server. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Solemn High Mass is augmented by multiple ministers, choral music, hymns,  a rich ceremonial (incense, candles, processions, etc.) It generally takes between 75 and 90 minutes.

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WHAT IS EVENING PRAYER?

The Office of Evening Prayer also derives from Cranmer's English Prayer Book (1549), and derives from the monastic hour of Vespers. It includes prayers, canticles, readings and a psalm. Spoken, it takes 20 minutes. When sung it is called Choral Evensong, an archetypically Anglican service that takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes.

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WHAT IS COMPLINE? 

Compline is descended from the night prayers said before bed at the end of the monastic round of daily prayer. Compline is a simple office including a confession of sins, one or more psalms, a short reading from scripture, versicles and responses, the Lord's Prayer, collects which ask for God's protection during the night to come, and the canticle Nunc dimittis. This ancient service is sung by a schola cantorum in the darkness of candlelight and takes approximately 15 minutes.

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Adapted from An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, edited by Donald S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum (New York: Church Publishing, 1999).