Lessons and Carols at TES

Image: From the December 2015 Festival of Lessons & Carols

The annual Festival of Lessons and Carols is arguably the most sublime moment of the school year. This order of worship takes the form of anthems interspersed with choral readings given by each class in Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. In the midst of this, the costumed First Graders re-enact the ancient and familiar Bethlehem drama. As students repeatedly experience the story over the years, we hope that the central message becomes a part of who they are. The Nativity Story is about a God who cares for people and out of compassion enters human history in a very humble way. Jesus is born in a stable and placed in the animals’ food trough because there was no room at the inn. Shepherds, angels, and kings bear witness to the divine happening in these otherwise quite lowly circumstances.

This time of year is busy. There is so much to do and so little time. We can feel overwhelmed and only one step ahead of disaster. Lessons and Carols is for many a kind of “reset button” for the Season. If we let them, the students can remind us of what Christmas is about...simplicity, humility, giving, family, caring, and compassion shown first by God to humanity and then mirrored in the lives of those whose hearts are so moved. The Festival of Lessons and Carols is scheduled to begin in Trinity Episcopal Church at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, December 21. Please join us.