A Worship Magazine
Easley Presbyterian Church
Easley, SC
Dec. 2019
Vol. 5 Issue 5
A common thread that joins us together with Christ and with each other.
Service of Lessons and Carols The first Festival of Lessons and Carols was held at King’s College on Christmas Eve 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who desired to bring more imaginative worship into the Church of England. The service was traditionally begun with the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City,” but otherwise the carols may change from year to year. Almost immediately other churches adapted the service to their own use. A wider frame began to grow when the service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, it has been broadcast annually, even during the Second World War. It continues to be televised and digitally broadcast around the world. One correspondent writes that he heard the service in a tent on the foothills of Everest; another, in the desert. Many listen at home, busy about their own preparations for Christmas. Visitors from all over the world are heard to identify the Chapel as “the Place where the Carols are sung.” Wherever the service is heard and however it is adapted, whether the music is provided by choir or congregation, the pattern and strength of the service is the combination of Scripture and music expressing the
loving purposes of God throughout time and fully expressed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Service o Lessons and Carols tells the story of God’s great work of salvation from the beginning of creation, through the words of the prophets, and the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The carols help bring the emotive imagery and creativity into the telling of this story. On Sunday, December 8th at 11:00 am, Easley Presbyterian Church will present its own version of the Service of Lessons and Carols. You are invited to come and hear with fresh ears this story of Redemption.