This year's Christmas chapel on 27th November was again a service of nine lessons and carols. This form of service was first introduced at King's College, Cambridge, in 1918, and has become popular worldwide. It tells the story of Christmas through Old Testament and New Testament readings, beginning with the prophets, going through to the birth stories and concluding with the great passage from John's gspel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".

As the congregation entered there was much on which to feast the eyes - windows magically turned into stained glass, candles galore, and nativity scenes on each window ledge. A slide show of nativity scenes was also set up to run throughout the service.

The service began with a processional hymn, "O come, Emmanuel", with the Middle School and Elementary School choirs carrying candles. Other carols sung included the old favourites - O come all ye faithful, O little town of Bethlehem, Hark the herald angels sing - and some beautiful arrangements of less well-known songs - Lo, how a rose e'er blooming, Little road to Bethlehem. Cole Bloom, music student from St. Olaf's, was choirmaster, and he sang a tenor solo, "Ave Maria". The musical highlight was a modern choir piece, "Night of Silence/Silent Night", which was followed by an exuberant "Joy to the world". Click here to view or download a pdf (Acrobat) copy of the programme.

The various readings were by staff and students, and included one in Nepali and one in Korean. The programme contained the translations for those less gifted! Chaplain Brian Dunn gave the invocation at the start of the service, and the final blessing. Staff and students greatly appreciated the hard work of Reid Blickenstaff '70, the music department, Brian Dunn '89 and the chaplaincy team and Judy Crider '69 and the decoration team in planning and presenting a very special Woodstock evening.

Click here to view one of the carols:
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