By The Rev’d Canon Matthew Wilkins, Canon for Worship
The service of Nine Lessons and Carols began all the way back in the year 1880. It was started by Bishop Edward White Benson (Bishop of Truro in Cornwall) as a way to attract the crowds of Christmas revelers around the city away from the pubs and into the Church. This new idea was a smashing success, with the first formal service of Lessons and Carols drawing a crowd of over 400!
After Bishop Benson was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883, the service began to gain wide popularity around England, but thanks to King's College Cambridge, Lessons and Carols has become popular the world over, even outside of Anglicanism. In 1918 the Dean of King’s College Chapel, Eric Milner-White, employed the excellent Chapel Choir to offer the service every year. In 1928, the BBC began broadcasting the service annually on the radio, and later in 1954 began to televise the service, making Lessons and Carols a tradition not just in England but across the world.
Here at St. Peter’s Lessons and Carols has long been a part of our Advent and Christmas traditions. In the service, where Scripture, hymns, and choir anthems work together to tell the story of the coming Messiah, our hearts are prepared to welcome our newborn King at Christmas. For me, Lessons and Carols is one the most moving services of the entire Church year, and one of my favorites.
I also find that Lessons and Carols is one of the easiest services of the year to invite people to come to (be it those who go to other churches or those who are not Christians). Though the world continues to change, there’s still something about the Advent and Christmas season that even the most staunch skeptics are still receptive to. When you combined the Good News of Jesus as heard in Scripture and song with the always incredible reception that follows the service, you get a perfect opportunity to bring someone along with you! Maybe it’s a neighbor, maybe it’s a longtime friend, or maybe it’s someone who isn’t too sure about Jesus or the Church. If it’s the latter, invite them so they can see how good Jesus is, and that we church folks aren’t all that weird.
So come to Lessons and Carols to prepare yourself for the coming King, but also think and pray about who God might be asking you to bring along with you that evening.