Nine Lessons and Carols

The service includes carols and readings from the Bible. The opening carol is always 'Once in Royal David's City', and there is always a new, specially commissioned carol. Unfortunately there is no list of radio stations that are broadcasting the service, so it's best to contact your local stations or check their online listings. We now operate a ticketing system for this service.

Christmas for the Choristers at King's College, Cambridge

If you wish to attend, please come to the College early on Christmas Eve morning, with some photographic identification. A queue will form in the early hours and we will begin distributing tickets at approximately 7am.

We expect the queue to be full by this time, or possibly earlier. Each ticket will be for a specific seat in the Chapel and valid only for the person who collects it. As the number of tickets is limited, you are advised to arrive in good time. Those who do receive tickets will be invited to come back after 1: Only one ticket will be given per person; approximately will be available. Please note that members of the congregation should not bring anything larger than a small handbag with them to the Chapel.

Any questions about gaining admission to the College for this service should be directed to the Head Porter, Mr Neil Seabridge: We offer a very limited number of reserved seats in the Ante-Chapel for people unable to queue because of disability or illness. If you wish to be considered for a maximum of three tickets, please write to the Dean, enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

We are able to accept applications for Christmas Eve between 21 May and 30 September We regret that we are unable to enter into email correspondence on this subject. Tickets will be dispatched or a note explaining that we are sorry to disappoint by 1 November In other churches the processional includes all the participants; the readers also wear robes and sit together.

Those in the processional, usually in pairs, should walk slowly, not trying to march in step. They should concentrate on keeping an even distance from those ahead of them and on listening to the other choir members while singing. The processional must be rehearsed so that it does not draw attention to the act of processing but rather sets the tone for a service of worship.

Sometimes the procession is led by one or two candle—bearers who light candles at the front of the church. Churches using an Advent wreath may wish to separate the processional from the candle lighting. After the processional the candles are lit and the choir sings a carol that contains references to light. However, this is not part of the traditional service.

Nine Lessons and Carols

The congregation remains standing for the bidding prayer, a prayer in which the congegation is asked bidden to pray for. A list follows, with brief pauses after each petition.

A bidding carol—which is something like a call to worship—may then follow, in which the choir addresses the congregation. After the bidding carol, the congregation is seated and the lessons begin. When the service includes a sermon or meditation, it usually follows the ninth lesson, though some place it after the eighth. If an offering is part of the service, it should be taken after the ninth lesson. The offertory music—either another carol or instrumental music—should keep in mind the wonder and mystery of the passage from John 1. Some congregations follow the older custom of receiving offerings at the door as people leave.

The service concludes with a prayer and a blessing.

Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmastide | Reformed Worship

In England, all would kneel for the prayer. If your congregation has never knelt in prayer, this service would be an appropriate context in which to consider doing so. If the congregation does not kneel, it should stand. All those who participated in the processional leave in a recessional. The choir members do not actually leave the sanctuary but, rather, gather in the back to add their voices on the descant for the final stanza. In planning a service of the nine lessons and carols, no congregation should feel bound to follow all the suggestions listed above.

Of greater importance is maintaining the simplicity and dignity needed to convey the story of salvation told in these moving passages of Scripture. One final word about bulletins. Words to all the songs are best printed in the bulletin. It is especially helpful for the congregation to be able to follow the texts sung by the choir. Directions for standing also should be clearly marked on the bulletin.

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Beloved in Christ, at this Christmastide let it be our care and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the babe lying in a manger. Therefore let us read and mark in holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious redemption brought us by this holy Child.

But first, let us pray for the needs of the whole world; for peace on earth and goodwill among all his people; for unity and brotherhood within the church he came to build, and especially in this, our own community. And because this would rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children; all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

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Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are one forevermore. These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us:.

God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed. O Little Town of Bethlehem. O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son, Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may, with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our Judge; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

May he who by his incarnation gathered into one things earthly and heavenly, fill you with the sweetness of inward peace and goodwill; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be upon you and remain with you always. Like most other congregations who celebrate Christmas through this service, Christ Community has added its own "touches" to the liturgy. Robert De—Young, pastor of the church, describes part of a special service of lessons and carols, held late on Christmas Eve. One year "the bells of Christmas" seemed ever present in our carol selections.

The people were invited to bring small bells, sleigh bells, chords of bells. As the people arrived, the bells were muffled and quiet and were kept that way throughout most of the service. Even as the final notes of the anthem were being sung, one of the unseen bells began to ring, then the other of another pitch joined in, and finally the people added the sound of their individual bells. To end this acclamation of praise, the organ and trumpets began the introduction to "Joy to the World," the final carol of the service.

As the people left the church, they carried their bells unmuffled, ringing in Christmas Day. SATB, a cappella Level: Ralph Vaughan Williams Arranged for: Adam Lay Y—Bounden Publisher: Boris Ord Arranged for: John Rutter Arranged for: SATB, unison, with baritone solo and organ Level: Raymond Haan Arranged for: Unison, with organ and opt.

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David Willcocks Arranged for: SATB, unison, with soprano descant and organ Level: I Saw Three Ships Publisher: The Holly and the Ivy Publisher: Reginald Jacques Arranged for: Schirmer Lawson—Gould Arranged for: Paul Wohlgemuth Arranged for: Martin Shaw Arranged for: O Little Town of Bethlehem Publisher: