Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols
Christmas 2023

Pastor: Ralph Wrightstone Music Director: Travis Oaks
In the late 1800's, English cathedrals and churches developed a service of worship for the Advent/Christmas season that presented the story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus in Nine short Bible readings alternating with the singing of appropriate hymns and carols. That format of "Nine Lessons and Carols" for telling the story of Jesus' coming into our world grew in popularity and has become a standard for many denominations over the past 140 years. The UMC Book of Worship includes a Christmas Eve Service in this format and the UMC Discipleship Ministries (UDM) has provided services in this format for Advent and Christmas Eve.

This service of "Nine Lessons and Carols" adapts the UDM "Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" to the style of Bethel's online services during the ongoing pandemic. We hope you will find it to be a welcome addition to your celebration of this Christmas Season.
A Few Instructions
Each part of this online service consists of an audio file and, for most, a Link to a pdf file of "projection slides". Click on the symbol to play the audio file under a separate browser tab or in a new window. Then select the "Bethel Christmas Festival" browser tab or return to this window to open the Link to the "slides". It is best to stop the playing of one Audio segment and close its tab or window before starting another.
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This service provides 10 opportunities for singing a carol, with one carol for each Lesson. It includes all 31 of the songs suggested in the UDM Christmas Eve Festival to leave the choice of "carol" up to you. The songs marked with an asterisk * provide one set of 10 distinct "Carols" to use for the service. Of course, you may choose any one or multiple carols to sing between the lessons...take your time. We will wait for you.
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The scripture readings here are from the NIV New International Version of the Bible. We encourage you to read along with your own favorite version of the Bible.

Please let us know of any problems you have with or suggestions about this site by sending an email to "bumctlh@gmail.com". You may also contact Pastor Ralph Wrightstone directly at: 850-591- 9785.