the Fourth Sunday of Advent ----- 24 December 2017

(On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Trinity Anglican Church celebrated a Service of Lessons & Carols. St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church's council decided to cancel the morning service since the Christmas Eve service would take place that evening. Here is the very brief reflection I gave at Trinity.)

·       The Service of Lessons & Carols is an old and much beloved Anglican tradition, beginning as early as 1878. It was celebrated on Christmas Eve that year and the use of the service has spread over the English speaking world.

·       Even here, where this service has been celebrated for a number of years, although fewer than the 139 years since the first noted celebration.

·       Beyond keeping a tradition (and traditions MUST be kept as we all know), we might wonder why we do this. The carols are beautiful. (Thanks, Rochelle!) The setting is pretty. The people are here. Still, we can hear those carols anywhere – at home, at the mall, on the car radio. There are fancier, professionally done settings. And we see people all over the place.

·       The real reason is simple: the story of the Good News of Jesus Christ moves us, regardless of how many times we’ve heard it.

·       There is an old hymn - not often found in Anglican hymnals – written by one Arabella K. Hankey as far back as 1866, called “I Love to Tell the Story.” I’m sure many of you know it. The third verse answers our question of why we do this.

·       I love to tell the story,

for those who know it best

Seem hungering and thirsting

  to hear it like the rest;
And when in scenes of glory

  I sing the new, new song,
’Twill be the old, old story

     that I have loved so long.

I Love to Tell the Story

Arabella K. Hankey, 1866

·       We might know the story by heart and we still want to hear it proclaimed. We want to hear it. We NEED to hear it. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

·       May we hear again today with new ears.