HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
Sunday, December 7 10:00 AM Advent Service
Sunday, December 14 10:00 AM Advent Service
Sunday, December 21 10:00 AM Advent Service
Christmas Eve 6:00 PM Lessons & Carols Service
CHRISTMAS EVE AT GOOD SHEPHERD
When it comes to family Christmases, people generally don’t like things to change. Because our celebration of Christmas has so many unchanging traditions, we might miss the fact that the birth of Christ the Savior meant radical change for the world. Would the change be an improvement or another step in decline? The angels answer the question. They don’t sing “Watch out for impending doom!” They sing “glory” and “peace,” praising God with alleluias!
LESSONS & CAROLS
Our worship for Christmas Eve is an adaptation of “The Festival of Lessons and Carols” service traditionally held at King's College, Cambridge, England, on December 24th every year. The Festival was first held on Christmas Eve, 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who at the age of thirty-four had just been appointed Dean of King’s College after experience as an army chaplain. A revision of the Order of Service was made in 1919, involving rearrangement of the lessons. In almost every year some carols have been changed and some new ones introduced by successive organists. However, the backbone of the service, the lessons and the prayers, has remained virtually unchanged for nearly 100 years.
