Methodist Men to Host Festival of Nine Christmas Lessons tomorrow

THE Castries Methodist Church will come alive to the sounds of Christmas music this Sunday evening, when the Church’s Men’s Christian Fellowship presents its annual “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols”.

An ensemble from the St Lucia School of Music, The Evergreen Choir, The Methodist Youth Choir, an inter-denominational Festival Choir and a Male Choir combining members of the Methodist and Anglican congregations will be backed up with performances by soloists Deon Hutchinson and Lenus Deterville, for the event.

The Men’s Fellowship of the Methodist Church has been staging this traditional English Christmas concert since 1997, with incremental improvements in the quality of the presentation every year.

Said a Church spokesman: “This year we have gone where we have never gone before, with a little more variety in the presentations and breaking the language barrier as well with some renditions in Latin. We have put together a programme that will appeal to a variety of musical tastes.”

The programme, which will also feature the works of famous composers Handel and Bach, is coordinated by Ms. Diane Raveneau, who will be at the organ.

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols originated in England in 1880. The best known version is broadcast annually from King’s College in Cambridge .The Festival was introduced to bring a more imaginative approach to worship but there is also an oft-repeated myth that the purpose was to keep men out of the pubs. The service was first broadcast in 1928 and is now broadcast to millions of people around the world every year.

Sunday’s concert at the Castries Methodist Church will begin at 7 p.m. The event will feature the reading of nine passages from the Bible relating to the story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols and hymns.

During the intermission, the congregation will have the opportunity to participate in the singing of some of the best known Christmas carols like “Joy to the World”, “O little town of Bethlehem”, “Hark the herald Angels sing” and “Silent Night”.

Admission to the Festival is $20.00 and can be paid at the door.

This year’s concert is being organised to raise funds for a specific purpose: to finance a project started in October by the Men’s Fellowship in which young boys and girls are being taught to play musical instruments with the intention that they will be able to perform at worship services in the future. At the moment nearly a dozen young people are receiving the instructions, once weekly on Saturdays.