Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will present “Advent Service of Lessons and Carols” Mon., Dec. 15, 2014, at 5:15 p.m. in the Hicks Memorial Chapel. A reception will follow the service.
Join us for an all-campus worship service as we prepare to celebrate once again the Nativity of our Lord Jesus and look with hope for Christ’s return. The service will feature choral and instrumental music, congregational singing, and readings by PTS faculty, staff, and students.
The tradition of an Advent Lessons and Carols service was established at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge in 1934. Sixteen years after the now famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve was first sung by the Chapel’s choir, the dean of the chapel composed a service based on the pre-reformation Advent Offices of the English Church. Its purpose was “…not to celebrate Christmas, but to expect it.” The readings of our Advent Lessons and Carols service, moving from the prophets’ announcement of God’s promise of salvation to Christ’s proclamation of God’s reign, are taken from that “Procession with Carols on Advent Sunday.”