Candles flickering, banks of red poinsettias, lighted garlands tied with bright red bows swooping along the balcony wainscoting, the pews filled with friends and families — all listening to a Bach prelude as everyone waited for the “Nine Lessons and Carols” service to begin.
The Christ Candle was lighted by the Evans family, and with the reading of the Prophecy from Isaiah and the singing of the first Carol, the retelling of the birth of the Christ Child began. In a tradition that began in 1926 at King’s College Chapel at Cambridge University in England, nine scripture readings alternating with nine carols once again told the hopeful story of the Birth Foretold, Mary and Elizabeth, the Birth of Jesus, the Shepherds and Angels, the Visit of the Wise Men, the Word Become Flesh, the final Declaration and Christmas Blessing by Rev. Breault, and the Closing Carol of Joy.
