 |
|
| Michael Barone |
Festival Introduction
By Michael Barone
December 2001
Once again it's Christmas Eve, and in a moment we will partake of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols as celebrated at King's College in Cambridge. This is the 84th such event from this historic landmark church in England, and the 22nd year that we in the United States have been able to join in this live event.
This service is a comfort for millions of people all around the world, perhaps this year to an even greater degree. That first festival in 1918 was a product of World War One. Eric Milner-White, the new young chaplain at King's, had just returned from the battlefront, and in his Bidding Prayer he wrote, in tribute to those who had died, "Let us also remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light..." Telling words, certainly, in 1918, and perhaps more so in the aftermath of events of recent times. The Reverend Doctor George Pattison, Dean of King's College, will read that Bidding Prayer immediately following the marvelously expanding processional hymn, "Once in Royal David's City".
Beautiful as the music is, the power of this service grows from the words, as Dean Milner-White intended. He said, "The main theme is the development of the loving purposes of God, seen through the windows and words of the Bible." The center of the service still will be found by those who "go in heart and mind" and who consent to follow where the story leads. And to do that, after all, one must pay heed to that story, which will be presented in readings by representative members of the choir, the college, and the city of Cambridge.
Of the choir, there are 30 singers, 16 boys of eight to thirteen years age and fourteen young men from the undergraduate College, who carry on a musical tradition that dates from the time of Henry VI in the 15th century—a tradition made vivid and alive, now, as the time has come and we are about to begin.
On behalf of all who have helped in the preparation, presentation, and distribution of this program, I hope that its message has been clear, that its effect will be profound, and that a sense of peace and grace will be shared throughout the world as we address the challenges of another New Year. Thank you for listening.
|
