A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was an appropriate first Sunday in 2012 to wrap up 2011. Compared to our services, the Eucharist and Morning Prayer, it’s a new service, created by the Church of England in 1918 at a time when the community of Cambridge was devastated by loss in World War I. It’s out of loss that something wonderfully new was created, a very creative service with no sermon or communion that celebrates the written word in scripture and music. (The service format is flexible in both the readings and hymns though since 1919 Lessons and Carols has begun with "Once in Royal David’s City.") The bulletin of our service is here. The readings which were selected can be found here.
The readings capture the whole range of human emotions from the promise and tragedy of Genesis to hope of the prophet Isaiah forecasting the birth of Jesus to the wonder and celebration of the story of Jesus birth with the shepherds, angels and the manger.
The appropriate conclusion in the ninth reading is the moving prologue of the Gospel of John, exploring the meaning of Christ. It returns us to Genesis and actually speaks of a reality before Genesis. Jesus Christ both loving and familiar and also one that is vast and mysterious there from the begining of the creation. At his birth, the Word became flesh – reality of spirit and humanity – oneness and wholeness. The latter is for what we strive.
We want to thank those who contributed to the service. First the musicians. Organist, Tom Guthrie substituted for the vacationing Brad with his flourishes on pieces such as "Joy to the World"; Nancy Long who sang "Mary Did You Know"; and Catherine on "The Tree of Life my Soul Hath Seen." Catherine’s sister Lynette and her husband, both Moravian ministers visited with their two daughters who sang the Moravian hymn "Morning Star" after the 8th reading.
The readings were the heart of the service. Reading today were Alex Long, Laura Long , Eunice Key, Helmut Linne von Berg, Jim Heimbach, Elizabeth Heimbach, Mike Newman, Catherine Hicks, Ben Hicks.
The perfect culmination of the service was the monthly coffee hour presented by Cookie and Catherine featurinng three types of soups, ham, pizza, salad, home made bread and numerous Christmas cookies and treats.