Have you ever heard of the Nine Lessons and Carols Service?
The Nine Lessons and Carols service has become a Christmas Eve tradition throughout the world. This worship service revolves around nine readings of Scripture (lessons) that tell the Christmas story, beginning with man’s fall into sin, revealing our need for a redeemer; this is followed by readings from the patriarchs and the prophets, foreshadowing the coming of the Christ, the angel Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, and the events of the Nativity. These passages and themes are reflected in the carols that are matched to each reading.
This service is typically held at night, and is meant to trace the path of God’s saving work throughout history as attested in His Word and celebrated in Christmas carols. The words of Scripture and hymns are the centerpiece of this service. The very first Lessons and Carols service was held late at night on Christmas Eve in 1880. The faithful gathered in a large wooden shed in Truro, a cathedral city in the southwestern tip of England. The shed was a temporary home for the faithful while a stone cathedral was being constructed.
The service as we know it today was crafted by Bishop Edward White Benson (1829–1896), who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. Following the medieval custom of a sequence of nine lessons, Benson designed the service around nine passages of Scripture (lessons) threaded with nine Christmas-themed hymns (carols).
In 1918, Rev. Eric Milner-White introduced the Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols service at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Milner-White had been an army chaplain in the Great War, and witnessed firsthand the brutal realities trench warfare on the Western Front:
“Most of life is at night,” he wrote in a letter back home, “and the nights are filled with prolonged terror—a horrid, weird, furtive existence. . . . Battle is indescribable, unimaginable. A continuous firework of light balls goes up from the German trenches. But most awesome is the noise. We feel powerless against those splitting cracks and roars, and dream of the metal tearing its way into the bodies of poor men.”[1]
Milner-White was decorated for courage under fire in combat, and released from service in early 1918. He was appointed Dean at King’s College. After the end of the war on November 11, 1918, Milner-White set out to create a special Christmastide service. He had two chief purposes:
1. Grieving the Loss of Young Men from the War
Twenty-three percent of the members of King’s College had died during the war, including Milner-White’s roommate. Today, in the chapel of King’s College, the names of the war dead are displayed on a plaque, but this list was assembled long after the first Lessons and Carols service. On Christmas Eve, 1918, no one knew exactly who among the members was alive or dead. This deep loss is reflected in the closing words of the bidding prayer that Milner-White composed for the service, and which is still used for most Lessons and Carols services over one hundred years later: “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.”[2]
2. Attracting the War-Weary with Simple Beauty
There is intellectual depth to the service. In Milner-White’s own words, “the main theme is the development of the loving purposes of God” as viewed “through the windows and the words of the Bible.” In communicating this theme, however, he aimed at simplicity rather than complex explication of God’s purposes in human history. There is an aesthetic dimension to life that captivates our attention and affection in a way that often surpasses rational, propositional assertions. Rather than a lecture, he designed the service to focus on “colour, warmth, and delight,” to comfort and encourage a grieving, war-weary community with the simple and beautiful truths of the Christian faith and the message of Christmas.
The service was enthusiastically received, and was later broadcast on the BBC, reaching millions of listeners. Those listening from afar were also taken with the beauty and simplicity of the Lessons and Carols service, and it soon became an international Christmas tradition.
I encourage you to host a Lessons and Carols service. It is something that your church or family can do with very little advance notice. The service at King’s College always begins with “Once in Royal David’s City” and ends with “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” You may choose the other carols to be sung, and even in high liturgical churches, they often change from one year to the next. However, the following lessons (Scripture readings) have been in use since 1919:
First Lesson from Genesis 3:8-15; 17-19. God tells sinful Adam that he has lost the life of Paradise and that his seed will bruise the serpent’s head.
Second Lesson from Genesis 22:15-18. God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
Third Lesson from Isaiah 9:2, 6-7. The prophet foretells the coming of the Savior.
Fourth Lesson from Isaiah 11:1-3a, 4a, 6-9. Isaiah foreshadows the Peace that Christ, the Prince of Peace, brings.
Fifth Lesson from the Gospel of Luke 1:26–35, 38. The angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sixth Lesson from Luke 2:1, 3-7. St. Luke recounts the story of Jesus’ birth.
Seventh Lesson from Luke 2:8-16. The shepherds go to the manger.
Eighth Lesson from the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12. The star leads the wise men to Jesus.
Ninth Lesson from the Gospel of John 1:1-14. St. John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation.
[1] James Manley, “Nine Lessons and Carols: A Rookie Anglican Guide,” Anglican Compass, https://anglicancompass.com/nine-lessons-and-carols-a-rookie-anglican-guide/
[2] Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (London: Church House Publishing, 2000), “A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols,” Bidding Prayer.