Christmas caroling used to be at the heart of the Christmas experience. Groups of merry-makers would bundle up and stroll door-to-door through the neighborhoods singing classic Christmas songs to the delight of their friends and strangers alike. In our modern world of busy schedules and heightened terror alerts, door to door Christmas caroling has all but disappeared.
Saturday, December 18, at 8 PM we will gather to celebrate the "Lessons and Carols" of Christmas—the stories and songs of Jesus' birth as related in Gospels and other Christian writings.
The Congregational Choir, directed by Terence Flanagan, will offer special music. The Adult Bell Choir, led by Abi Gray, will also perform. The entire congregation will be invited to take part in the singing of carols!
For this year's service, we will use the following lessons:
1. The Birth of the Word “Incarnation” John 1:1-14, 16-18
2. Mary & Gabriel “Annunciation” Luke 1:26-38
3. Mary’s Song “Magnificat” Luke 1:46-55
4. The Birth of Jesus “Nativity” Luke 2:1-7
5. Shepherds & Angels “Gloria in Excelsis” Luke 2:8-20
6. Visit of the Magi "Gaudio Magno" Matthew 2:1-12
7. Birth of the Cosmic Christ "Peperit Filium" Revelation 12:1-6
8. Jesus Birthed The All "ἐγώ εἰμι " Gospel of Thomas 46, 70, 77
9. Born in Human Likeness "Humiliavit Semet Ipsum" Philippians 2:1-11
For a history and a sampling of the options available in traditional lessons-and-carols, click here. The familiar service at Cambridge is based on an Order drawn up by Edward White Benson, at that time Bishop of Truro, in Cornwall, for use on Christmas Eve (24 December) 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. A listing of the traditional lessons can be found at http://www.ctbi.org.uk/pdf_view.php?id=551
--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor
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