Christmas is not just for Christmas An exploration of the Christmas Story and its meaning, as told by members of the congregation at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held at York Minster on Christmas Eve 2007 Rachel Phillips M.A. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Master of Philosophy July 2011 Abstract This thesis explores the content and meaning of the Christmas Story, as expressed by members of the congregation at York Minster on Christmas Eve 2007. The work was developed through a Pilot Study in York Minster and Derby Cathedral over Christmas 2006, involving telephone and email interviews and Focus Group discussions. This enabled a questionnaire to be developed for use at York Minster‟s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, held on Christmas Eve 2007; the questionnaires invited Respondents to tell the Christmas Story in their own words and to say what they thought the Christmas Story means. Completed questionnaires were analysed using grounded theory, and themes of the Respondents‟ understanding emerged. These themes are explored in relation to passages of Scripture read in the service and to carols sung in the service. The explicit and implicit theology of the Respondents is then compared with orthodox Christian belief, as set out in the Nicene Creed, in order to explore how Respondents‟ understanding did or did not correlate with what the Church of England believes. There is then reflection on issues which those constructing Christmas carol services might usefully take in to account. The thesis concludes by proposing theories for testing in further research. This thesis makes an original contribution to research by: revealing what members of a particular congregation said about the Christmas Story and its meaning; offering a method of listening to a congregation at a Christmas service, which could be used in other contexts; i offering new theories which might usefully be tested in further research. ii Acknowledgements I am indebted to the following, without whom this research would have been impossible: Canon Dr Christina Baxter for supervising and Dr Doug Ingram for troubleshooting The Revd Lynda Barley for assistance with the Pilot Study questionnaire Professor Paul Ballard for advising on the Questionnaire The Deans and Chapters of York Minster and Derby Cathedral for allowing me to conduct research in their cathedrals, and Jeremy and Julia Fletcher for their hospitality The 446 Respondents and many others who completed questionnaires, and/or participated in interviews and/or focus groups in York and Derby in 2006 and 2007 The Rt Revd Pete Broadbent and the Revd Stephen Dando for allowing me time to complete the first year of this research and study leave during my curacy The Ministry Division of the Archbishops‟ Council and the Willesden Area of the Diocese of London for financial assistance My family, for proof-reading and general encouragement iii Contents Chapter 1 Introduction: background, methodology 1 and ethical issues Chapter 2 The Pilot Study 19 Chapter 3 The Questionnaire and the Respondents 27 Chapter 4 Data analysis and the Christmas Texts 35 Chapter 5 Question 1 Data and the Paradigm Story 47 Chapter 6 Question 2 Data and the Themes 122 Chapter 7 How do the Christmas Texts and the Church tell 191 the Christmas Story? Chapter 8 Concluding Theories 222 iv Appendices 1 The Questionnaire 227 2 Glossary 229 3 Data Reference decoder 232 4 Authors of Top Six Carols 233 Tables 1A Elements, with rankings and demographic variations 235 1B Elements in Christmas Texts 242 2A Themes, with rankings and demographic variations 261 2B Themes in Christmas Texts 269 3 Names and descriptions used for Jesus Christ 297 4 Elements, Themes, and names for Jesus Christ in Christmas 306 Texts v Graphs 1 Paradigm Story Elements 319 2 Themes 319 Pie charts 1 Demographic groups: all Respondents 320 2 Reasons for attending 322 3 Elements in Luke, Matthew and Nine Lessons 323 4 Elements in Christmas Texts 324 5 Elements in Bidding Prayer and Nine Lessons 325 6 Elements in Top Six Carols 326 vi Venn Diagrams 1 Elements in Luke, Matthew and Nine Lessons 327 2 Paradigm Story Elements in Christmas Texts 328 3 Themes in Christmas Texts 329 4 Elements and Themes in Christmas Texts 330 Bibliography 331 vii Chapter 1 Introduction: background, methodology and ethical issues This research explores the Christmas Story and its meaning, as expressed, in response to a written questionnaire („the Questionnaire‟1), by members of the congregation at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held at York Minster on Christmas Eve 2007 („the 2007 Service‟2). The primary data for the research were qualitative and quantitative data collected from 446 questionnaires completed at the 2007 Service. The decision to use this approach was informed by the Pilot Study,3 undertaken in York Minster and Derby Cathedral around Christmas 2006, using questionnaires, email and telephone interviews, and Focus Groups.4 In the Pilot Study (particularly in Focus Group discussions) many people mentioned the Christmas Story, but few elaborated on its content or meaning. This indicated that a more detailed qualitative study focusing on the Christmas Story would be fruitful. Background Why the Christmas Story? The Christmas Story is embedded in 21st century British culture. It would be difficult to be living in Britain at Christmas time and not know that it 1 Defined in Appendix 2. 2 Defined in Appendix 2. 3 Defined in Appendix 2. 4 Defined in Appendix 2. 1 was Christmas. Millions of people attend Christmas carol services, in churches and elsewhere. My aim was to explore what people regard as the content and meaning of the Christmas Story. In the Pilot Study, people had referred simply to „the Christmas Story‟, as if it were one single story, which everyone would know in the same form – and yet it had been evident from other comments that this was not the case, but rather that different people had different ideas about what constitutes „the Christmas Story‟ and what it means. The idea of a single story was also apparent in the survey by Christian theology thinktank Theos at Christmas 2007 (much heralded in the media), when it was said that people did not know „the Christmas Story‟ – but the survey was oddly selective about the elements of the Christmas Story it used, asking just four direct questions about particular elements of the story.5 I therefore decided to invite members of the congregation to tell the Christmas Story in their own words, so as to indicate what elements might reasonably be thought to constitute „the Christmas Story‟. I also wanted to explore what meaning people attributed to the Christmas Story, as they had told it, as this was something that had not been overtly discussed in the Pilot Study, but which, like the content of the story, had appeared to be underlying much of what was said. 5 www.theosthinktank.co.uk. http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/Christmas.pdf. 2 Why York Minster? Between 2000 and 2006, Christmas congregations at Church of England cathedrals increased by 37%. More than 130,000 people attended services in cathedrals on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in 2006.6 Until Christmas 2006, no research had been undertaken to establish why cathedral congregations in particular were increasing, or how people in the congregation perceived the services they attended. These were questions I wanted to research, and which my theological and church musical training had equipped me to research. I had become convinced that research in this area would be worthwhile when I took informal soundings from the precentors of over 30 cathedrals in November/December 2005: many felt a tension between providing what people expect of Christmas services and providing what Christian ministers think they need; accompanying the rejoicing at burgeoning congregation numbers was the frustration of not knowing who was in the congregation and how they were interpreting the services. The precentor of York Minster was keen to explore these questions, so the Dean and Chapter of York Minster agreed to my conducting research there.7 Originality/contribution to knowledge and scholarship So far as I have been able to establish, no research of this type had been done before Christmas 2006; no one I contacted8 mentioned being aware 6 Official statistics published 3 April 2007 http://cofe.anglican.org/news/pr2807.html. 7 I also conducted the Pilot Study at Derby Cathedral. 8 Including the precentors of all 42 Church of England cathedrals, the Archbishops’ Council and the Liturgical Commission. 3 of any, nor could I find any published research on the topic.9 Much had been written about the history of carols and carol services, about Christmas liturgy, incarnational theology and Christmas as a mission opportunity, but without considering in depth the theology of the Christmas Story as presented in carol services and how that might be received by members of the congregation. Nor was there any qualitative research into the perceptions of people attending carol services. I believe that research in this area will benefit the mission of the Church of England, and that my research will assist further research.10 As well as making an original contribution to knowledge about the research topic itself, my research also makes an original contribution to scholarship at the interface of qualitative research with practical theology. The use of qualitative research methods in practical theology is a recent development.11 There is some way to go before the two disciplines sit comfortably together; even those who have combined the two disciplines more successfully12 indicate a bias towards theology, thereby losing some of the objectivity that qualitative research ought to have.