On a crisp Sunday morning, as people across the area anticipated a snowstorm and recovered from the secular celebration of Christmas a day earlier, the members of Saint George's Episcopal Church in Hellertown gathered for a Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols.

While the original liturgy for this special service has been adapted for use by churches around the world, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is best known in Great Britain, where it has become the standard format for schools' Christmas services.

The liturgy is the story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus. Nine short Bible readings tell the story, and are interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music.

St. George's pastor, Father Jonathan Mayo, explained that "the Lessons and Carols service comes to us from England. It was developed in the early 20th century at King's College, Cambridge, and has been performed there on Christmas Eve ever since." 

The first festival was held on Christmas Eve, 1918, beginning what the Dean of King's College hoped would be more imaginative worship by the Church of England. The service was first broadcast by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio in 1928 and aside from one year has been broadcast every year since. In 1979 the service was first broadcast live on public radio stations. And today, people from all over the world can view the service on YouTube, as well as via the King's College website.

Mayo further explained that "the service consists of about nine lessons from scripture, covering the prophet's message of a coming Messiah, all the way up to the story of Jesus' birth. In between the lessons are carols that closely relate to the lesson just read. In essence, the entire Christmas story and the important events leading up to it are recalled and celebrated."

"It's quite a beautiful thing," he added.

The lessons are the same every year, although the carols may vary and the service always ends with the hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."

While Mayo was very modest in describing St. George's version of the service, stating "…we in Hellertown cannot duplicate what they (King's College) do," he noted that he and others "try our best to make it a spiritually memorable service."

Members of the congregation who partook in the Dec. 26 service seemed duly impressed by it, stating at the service's conclusion, "Isn't it amazing how you can get this many voices together and they sound so nice?"

St. George's parishioners gathered in the church's vestibule for refreshments after the service, discussing the holiday and then-impending snow.

While St. George's may be a small church, the interactions among its members were demonstrative of a close-knit, welcoming spiritual community. 

After-worship social gatherings are not limited to holiday occasions, either. In fact, St. George's members--including Hellertown mayor Richard Fluck and his wife, Janice--generally gather to enjoy coffee and treats with one another following worship.

As everyone wrapped up and headed out to start their day following the Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols, Mayo reminded them that the feast of Christmas will continue all this week. As he mentioned earlier during the service, "even though the stores and everyone else is already celebrating Valentine's Day, Christmas is a 12-day long celebration."

Mayo further noted in the program for the service that "the secular world has abandoned Christmas and moved on to the next 'shopping opportunity.' But for us believers, the monumental significance of God coming to us in the flesh cannot be fully experienced in just one day of celebration."

"As Ebenezer Scrooge said, 'I will endeavor to keep Christmas in my year all the year through,'" the pastor's message concluded.

St. George's Episcopal Church is located at 735 Delaware Avenue and warmly welcomes new members. Services are held every Sunday at 9:30am.