2012 Service of Lessons and Carols

12/23/2012

A Service of Lessons and Carols
along with the
Children’s Christmas Pageant
and
Holy Eucharist Rite II

Click here to see the service booklet for our 2012 Festival of Lesson and Carols.

The Festival of Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music.

The format was based on an Order drawn up by Edward White Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury but at that time Bishop of Truro, in Cornwall, for use on Christmas Eve 1880. Tradition says that he organized a 10 pm service on Christmas Eve in a temporary wooden shed serving as his cathedral and that a key purpose of the service was to keep men out of pubs on Christmas Eve.

The original liturgy has since been adapted and used by other churches all over the world. Lessons and Carols most often occur in Anglican churches, but also in some Roman Catholic parishes, Lutheran parishes, and Presbyterian institutions. Moreover, numerous Christian churches have adopted this service, or a variation on this service, as part of their Christmas celebrations. In the UK, the service has become the standard format for schools' Christmas carol services.

The best-known version is broadcast annually from King's College, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve. It features carols sung by the famous Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Groton School of Groton, Massachusetts, has performed the festival longer than any institution other than King's, holding its first Lessons and Carols in 1928.

This year our service will be combined with the traditional children’s Christmas Pageant, with the Sunday School students presenting tableaux representing the parts of the Christmas story.

This will be followed by a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. All baptized Christians are welcome at our altar.

Thank you for worshiping with us today.