'Be it this Christmastide our care and delight': a laudable Practice check list for Nine Lesson and Carols

For many us, this coming Sunday will be be marked the service of Nine Lessons and Carols. The late Sir Roger Scruton described it, in Our Church (2013), as "that quintessentially Anglican ceremony". With this in mind, and to aid the "quintessentially Anglican" character of this glorious expression of popular Anglicanism, I am offering a laudable Practice check list for the service, heartily formed by my own prejudices. 

1. Keep the traditional readings. There are, of course, alternative reading schemes. Common Worship offers 'Good news for the poor' and 'The Gospel of Luke'. Both are rather trite and entirely fail to rival the traditional scheme's proclamation "of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious redemption brought us by this Holy Child". With four of the readings from the Old Testament, the traditional scheme ensures that the Lord's Nativity is rightly understood within the context of the hope of Israel; the accounts of the Annunciation, the Lord's Birth, the Visit of the Shepherds, and the Adoration of the Magi ensure that these narrative episodes echoed in the carols are heard afresh; while the reading of the Prologue of John brings the service to culminate in the Christological truth of the Incarnation.

2. Readings should be from the Authorized Version. Yes, I know it makes me desperately unsound not to insist on this. A dignified contemporary translation of holy Scripture can be accepted. That said, there are distinctly memorable poetic phrases in the readings from the AV: "upon them hath the light shined", "and wrapped him in swaddling clothes", "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy". The NRSV translations of these phrases are, to say the least, distinctly underwhelming: "on them light has shined", "wrapped him in bands of cloth", "they were overwhelmed with joy". Even for those of us in churches which do not routinely use the AV for the public reading of Scripture, there is a very good case for using it for Nine Lessons and Carols, not least because its memorable phrases are often echoed in the carols and anthems of Christmas.

3. Keep the traditional bidding. It is embarrassing to even consider the impoverished alternatives to the traditional bidding. They are weak, banal, and instantly forgettable. By contrast, the poetic phrases of the traditional bidding have a deep resonance, not the least of which is the closing phrase, which I find moves many year after year: "Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are for ever one".

4. The traditional form of the Lord's Prayer must be used. There should be a particular form of ecclesiastical punishment reserved for those clergy who use the contemporary version of the Lord's Prayer at carol services, when packed congregations are seeking a traditional celebration of Christmas. In terms of a suitable punishment, I would suggest the poker favoured by the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 'Blackadder'. 

5. Bangers for congregational carols. This should not be difficult. Hearty congregational carols are a crucial part of Nine Lessons and Carols. For those clergy with tender consciences are uneasy about 'veiled in flesh the Godhead see', Wesley was an orthodox Chalcedonian; for those who dislike 'no crying He makes', babies are not always crying; for those who want to remind us that Our Lord was born 'amidst the winter snow', maybe realize that the metaphor of winter darkness and cold rather aptly captures the state of the world since the Fall. 

6. Do not be anti-Semitic (looking at you, progressive clergy). On a much more serious note, those fanatics who, because of their obsession with a conflict in the Middle East, desire to remove references to 'Israel' from Scripture readings and carols are engaging in "blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits". You, quite simply, are vile anti-Semites, denying a fundamental aspect of the Christian Faith. The flesh and blood Our Lord assumed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary was Jewish flesh and blood. Christological truth refutes your anti-Semitism.

7. No, a sermon is not needed. As Hooker declared, "The Church as a wittnesse preacheth his meere revealed truth by reading publiquely the sacred scripture" (LEP V.19.1). There is, therefore, plenty of preaching in Nine Lessons and Carols - that preaching is the public reading of holy Scripture. "Wherefore when we reade or recite the scripture, we then deliver to the people properlie the word of God. As for our sermons, be they never so sound and perfect, his worde they are not as the sermons of the prophetes were" (V.22.10). So, clergy, work on your sermon for Midnight Mass or Christmas Day. If you think Nine Lessons and Carols needs your sermon, you are probably a Puritan who should not be celebrating Christmas in the first place.

8. Enjoy the embarrassment of musical riches. In terms of carols, as noted above, stick with the traditional bangers. Nine Lessons and Carols is not a time to introduce a new carol which leaves the congregation confused: well-known texts are a key part of popular religion. In terms of choir pieces, however, the vibrant choral tradition continues to turn out new compositions which can enrich the celebration of Christmas, for choir and congregation alike. They are a reminder that the mystery of the Incarnation continues to call forth praise and joy.

9. Keep to the traditional concluding collect and blessing. None of the entirely unnecessary acclamations beloved of the compilers of Common Worship, thank you. Do not go off searching for an edgy concluding prayer. 'O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance..': it works. It draws together Advent and Christmas. The reference to "yearly remembrance" has a resonance, as we celebrate another Christmas, with another year passing. The traditional language version of the collect is surely to be used, reflecting the language of the bidding prayer. As for the blessing, 'Christ who by his incarnation' rather beautifully summarises both the service and the celebration of the Incarnation.

10. And, of course, seasonal refreshments should follow. Forget about the Advent police and their Scrooge-like insistence that Christmas must not be anticipated before Christmas Eve. Festive joy as the birth of Christ approaches is entirely natural; it is also particularly appropriate after Nine Lessons and Carols, often the best attended service of the Christmas season. The carols, then, should be followed by mulled wine and mince pies. As Hooker reminds us, one of "the most naturall testimonies of our rejoycinge in God" is "our comforte and delight expressed by a charitable largenes of somewhat more than common bountie" (LEP V.70.2). And remember that on 25th December 1656, during the dark, grim years of the Interregnum, when celebration of Christmas was prohibited, a Parliamentarian condemned Episcopalians for being "merry over their Christmas pies": eating mince pies after carols is surely, therefore, "quintessentially Anglican".

Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmastide our care and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in a manger.