Please join us in the church for a
Traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols.
For those wishing to join the service online, you can follow the live stream here.
A Brief History of the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols.
While traditional Christmas carols are now commonly sung during services of worship throughout the world, until the latter part of the 19th century they were considered to be secular and were sung in the home or by groups of singers visiting people's houses. In the mid-1870's this began to change as more and more churches introduced traditional carols into their Advent and Christmas services. Referring to Truro Cathedral, the Royal Cornwall Gazette of 20 December, 1878 reported:
"The Choir of the Cathedral will sing a number of carols in the Cathedral on Christmas Eve, the service commencing at 10pm. We understand that this is at the wish of many of the leading parishioners and others. A like service has been instituted in other cathedral and large towns, and has been much appreciated. It is the intention of the choir to no longer continue the custom of singing carols at the residences of members of the congregation."
Two years later, on Christmas Eve, 1880, the Bishop of Truro, the Right Rev. Edward White Benson, led the first Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. The idea of interspersing Christmas music with the Bible readings of the Christmas story came from one of Benson's colleagues at the cathedral, the Rev. George Walpole. Benson became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883 and the service continued to gain in popularity, first across Britain and then around the world.
The service we know today is very much linked to King's College, Cambridge, where the chapel choir first sang it on Christmas Eve, 1918. It has continued this tradition every year since then, gaining even more listeners through the radio broadcast of the service, which started in 1928 and has continued every year (with the exception of 1930.)
While originating in the Anglican Church, the service was quickly adopted in Roman Catholic and other churches throughout the UK, and then the rest of the world. Here at the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam we enjoy the opportunity to include traditional carols and compositions from many different countries. While we conduct the service in English, it is interesting to note that at one school in Quebec, Canada, the nine lessons are read in nine different languages or dialects! Perhaps something to consider for future years here...