A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the Christmas Eve
service held in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge England and was introduced in 1918.
It was conceived by Eric Milner-White, the Dean of the College, whose experience
as an army chaplain had led him to believe that more imaginative Christmas worship was needed by the Church of England. It is thus one of our newer services
The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is
told in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music. Here
are the 2013 readings for this service. The bulletin was here.
Lessons and Carols is usually done at the beginning of Advent as an introduction to
Advent or towards the end as a summary of all that has happened.
This St. Peter’s service is the perfect culmination of your Christmas week, a
joyous celebration along with thoughtful, introspective moments. Plan now
to attend.