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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
This Sunday we’re enjoying a special Festival Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for worship. It was born out of the grief and horror of the First World War, which had ended only 6 weeks before Christmas Eve in 1918.
The author was The Rev. Eric Milner-White, a graduate of King’s College who was appointed chaplain at the college in 1912, four years after his ordination as an Anglican priest. When the war broke out in 1914, he volunteered as a military chaplain, and witnessed the horrors of 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.”
Decorated for courage under fire in combat, he was released after what he called “a battle of special horror” in early 1918 and returned to King’s College, where he was appointed Dean.
After the end of the war on November 11, Milner-White set out to create a special Christmastide service “as a gift to the city of Cambridge” that would serve two purposes.
First, he wanted to grieve the loss of young men from the city, and especially from his own college. Twenty-three percent of the members of King’s College had died during the war, including Milner-White’s roommate.
Second, he wanted to reform liturgical practices so that the simple beauty of Christian worship would shine through and attract those who had lost their faith in the horrors of the war, whether serving in it or watching it take place. He aimed at simplicity rather than complex explication of God’s purposes in human history. Rather than a lecture, he designed the service to focus on “color, warmth, and delight.”
We have adapted this service from the original, which tells the story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus. It is told through nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, and interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and videos.
Join us this Sunday morning as Sera Butz shares a special message and leads us through this delightful service of lessons and carols!
In Christ; Pastor Dan
Special Announcements:
- Reminder, donations for 2024 need to be received or postmarked before December 31st to be counted in 2024. First Evangelical church members: Your 2025 offering envelope boxes are on the table in the back of church. Thank you for all your support and care.
