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In 1918 Christmas returned to a world drained of energy and hope, shuddering from the agonies of death and destruction on a scale unimagined until that time. Worse yet, the people who had fought the Great War felt little or no sustaining spirit, no optimism – only the gratitude of being among “the lucky ones” who survived to face a bleak world.

That was the Christmas when the dons, the choristers and the choirmaster of Kings College at Cambridge University hit upon the idea of a service of “Lessons and Carols.” Representatives of the spectrum of the British population – from childhood to old age – were asked to read the lessons and choose the music that would help lift the spirits of dispirited Christianity.

Today, under the shadow of unspeakable barbarism being perpetrated in the Middle East, our world is seeing new evidence of what it means to be dispirited. Just as, during the past ninety-six years, the Christian world has embraced the wondrous idea that was born in Cambridge in 1918, we look forward to returning again this Christmas to the inspiration and comfort of our own Service of Lessons and Carols.

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