A SERVICE OF ADVENT LESSONS AND CAROLS WITH HOLY COMMUNION DECEMBER 8, 2019 10:00 A.M. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMFORTER CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA WELCOME TO HOLY COMFORTER! The people of Holy Comforter joyfully welcome you to this historic church. We are happy that you are here, and we hope you will find your worship today meaningful and inspiring. If you are looking for a church to call your own, we hope you will consider our parish. At the root of all we do is our desire to live out the Great Commandment of Jesus Christ: to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Holy Comforter has made a difference in our lives, and we believe it can do the same for you. In peace, The Rev. Greg Brown Rector ! INVITATION TO THE EUCHARIST The heart of our worship as Episcopalians is the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. We experience the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in this ancient sharing of bread and wine. Everyone is invited to come forward during Holy Communion. All Christians, of every age and any denomination, are invited to partake of the bread and wine. Those not wishing to receive communion this day are offered a blessing in God’s holy name. At the altar rail, you may kneel or stand, whichever connects you closer to God. If you are unable to come forward, please notify an usher, and ministers will be honored to come to you in your pew. To receive the bread, lay your hands together, palms upward; the bread will be placed in your open palm. Gluten-free bread is available at the altar; simply turn your hands over (palms down). To receive the wine, guide the chalice to your lips. If you prefer intinction--where the bread is dipped into the wine--you may leave the bread in your open palm. The chalice bearer will gently dip your bread into the wine and place it in your mouth. Or you may perform this intinction yourself. To receive the blessing, simply cross your arms across your chest. However you participate today, know this: you are welcome. It is Christ himself who invites you to meet him here. 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SERVICE OF LESSONS AND CAROLS The famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first held at King’s College, Cambridge, England, on Christmas Eve 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White; at age 34, White had just been appointed dean of King’s after experience as an army chaplain. This experience convinced him that the Church of England needed more imaginative worship. The original service was adapted from an order drawn up by Bishop E.W. Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury, for use in a wooden shed, which then served as his cathedral in Truro, on Christmas Eve 1880. A. C. Benson recalled, “My father arranged from ancient sources a little service for Christmas Eve – nine carols and nine tiny lessons, which were read by various officers of the church, beginning with a chorister, and ending, through the different grades, with the bishop.” Almost immediately other churches adapted the service for their own use. Its fame began to grow when the service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, it has been broadcast annually, even during World War II, when the ancient glass (and also all heat) had been removed from the chapel and the name of King’s could not be broadcast for security reasons. Sometime in the early 1930s the BBC began broadcasting the service overseas. In these and other ways the service has become public property. From time to time King’s College receives copies of services held in the West Indies or the Far East and these show how widely the tradition has spread. The broadcasts have become part of Christmas for many far from Cambridge. One correspondent writes that he heard the service in a tent on the foothills of Everest; another, in the desert. Visitors from all over the world are heard to identify the Chapel as “the place where the Carols are sung.” Wherever the service is heard and however it is adapted, whether the music is provided by choir or congregation: the pattern and strength of the service, as Dean Milner-White pointed out, is derived from the lessons and not the music. “The main theme is the development of God’s loving purposes...” seen through the windows and words of the Bible. Local interests appear in the bidding prayer, and personal circumstances give point to different parts of the service. This service at Holy Comforter is particularly Advent-focused, with lessons and music carefully chosen to illuminate the four-week season of waiting and expectation. The carols and anthems heard this morning are designed to support the readings which they follow – each of which tells but a portion of the prophetic story of Christ’s coming among us. 3 VOLUNTARY Come, thou redeemer of the earth (setting by Barbara Kinyon, b. 1929) Savior of the nations, come (setting by Cathy Moklebust, b. 1958) Come, thou long-expected Jesus (Kinyon) Holy Comforter Handbell Choir WELCOME THE WORD OF GOD INTROIT We are waiting for the Lord (William T. Paxson) Makayla Belcher, Allison Hancock, Paul Malina, and Zachary Wald, soloists We are waiting for the Lord. Earth is dark, the fires dim; come, Lord Jesus, enter in. Come and help us by your birth; come and brighten all the earth. Free your people from the grave; come, Lord Jesus, come and save. Take the ancient sin away; come, Lord Jesus, show the way. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. THE BIDDING PRAYER (please stand or kneel) Officiant Beloved in Christ, the season of Advent bids us prepare ourselves both for the celebration of Christ’s nativity as also for the day when he shall come to judge the hearts of us all. So, in sorrow and penitence, let us confess our failures and shortcomings, and renew in ourselves the vision of God’s perfect kingdom, which is the end of all our strivings and the consummation of God’s loving purposes for us. In word and music we will give voice to the hope set forth in the scriptures, that God’s kingdom will come; and, with John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, we will prepare for its coming, celebrating its dawning in the birth, life and death of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But first let us pray for those who, by reason of their adversity, yearn especially for its coming: the hungry and the homeless, the sick and the sorrowful, the lonely and the unloved; those who sit in the darkness of despair or who walk in the shadow of death. Let us pray for the leaders of the nations and for all who strive for the establishment of justice, righteousness and peace; and, that it may bear witness to this hope in a world divided by wrath and sorrow, let us pray for the well-being and unity of Christ’s body, the Church. May the Lord when he comes find us watching and waiting. People Amen. 4 PROCESSIONAL HYMN (please stand) Come, thou redeemer of the earth Come, thou redeemer of the earth ## & œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ 1. Come,œ thou˙ Re - deem - er of the earth,˙ andœ 2. Be - got - ten of no hu - man will, but 3. O e - qual to the Fa - ther, thou! Gird 4. From God the Fath - er he pro - ceeds; From 5. Thy cra - dle here shall glit - ter bright, And 6. All laud, e - ter - nal Son, to thee Whose ? # œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ # œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ 3 ## œ œ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙ & ˙ œ ˙œ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ 1. man - i - fest thy vir - gin birth: Let ev - 'ry age a - 2. of the Spi - rit thou art still The Word of God in 3. on thy flesh - ly man - tle now; The weak - ness of our 4. God the Fath - er back he speeds; His course he runs to 5. dark - ness breathe a new - er light, Where end - less faith shall 6. Ad - vent sets thy peo - ple free, Whom with the Fa - ther œ œ ? # ˙ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ # œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ 6 # # ˙˙ œ ˙ ˙ & œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ 1. dor - ing fall; such birth be - fits the God˙ ofœ all.˙ 2. flesh ar - rayed, the pro - mised fruit to all dis-played. 3. mor - tal state With death - less might in - vig - o - rate. 4. death and hell, Re - turn - ing on God's throne to dwell. 5. shine ser - ene, And twi - light ne - ver in - ter - vene. 6. we a - dore And Ho - ly Ghost for ev - er - more. ˙ œ ˙ ? # ˙ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ # œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ THE FIRST LESSON Adam and Eve rebel against God and are cast out of the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1-15 Ann Moore, lector 5 CHOIR ANTHEM Advent Calendar (Philip Ledger, 1937-2012) He will come like last leaf's fall. One night when the November wind has flayed the trees to bone, and earth wakes choking on the mould, the soft shroud's folding. He will come like frost. One morning when the shrinking earth opens on mist, to find itself arrested in the net of alien, sword-set beauty. He will come like dark. One evening when the bursting red December sun draws up the sheet and penny-masks its eye to yield the star-snowed fields of sky.