A Service of Lessons and Carols

In 1880 the Anglican bishop of Truro, E. W. Benson, crafted a festival service of nine lessons and carols for worship on Christmas Eve. Nearly forty years later, Eric Milner-White, the dean of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, adapted that worship order for use at King’s on Christmas Eve 1918. Radio broadcasts of the King’s service began in the 1930s and were first transmitted to the United States in the 1970s. However, the liturgy itself reached America earlier than that. Clergy, musicians, and worship leaders who had experienced the festival of lessons and carols at King’s College brought the format back with them and began adapting it for use in their own churches, cathedrals, and chapels. Heritage Church’s service of nine lessons and carols is similar to the liturgies that inspired it. We begin and end in prayer. Nine scripture readings retell the Christmas story and locate it within the broader context of God’s saving acts, beginning with Genesis and culminating with the prologue to John’s gospel. The lessons are read by members of the church. Carols, sung by the choir and the congregation, respond to the readings and reflect upon the narrative.