The Season Of Preparation

Hi there,

Christmas is a season for traditions, and as in former years, we will take our advent lead from a traditional British Christmas Celebration called "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols," made famous by Kings College, Cambridge.

Taken together, the readings from Genesis, Isaiah, and the Gospels of Luke and Matthew tell the story of the ​fall of humanity​, the ​promise of the Messiah​, and the ​birth of Jesus, concluding with the opening verses of John's Gospel.​

Traditionally, these are read from the 1611 King James Version of the Bible. I will use this version again for this season, so the language will be more challenging than we are used to.

The story of the King James Bible and how it came to be translated and published is told in a really enjoyable three-part BBC radio series created to mark the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the KJV in 2011. 

It is well worth a listen. It is linked here.

If you want to get an early glimpse of the weeks ahead, these are the passages:

​Genesis 3:8-15, 17,19. Genesis 22:15-18. Isaiah 9:2,6-7. Isaiah 11 1-4a, 6-9. Luke 1 26-35, 38. Luke 2:1-7.  Luke 2:8-16. ​ Matthew 2:1-12. John 1:1-14.​

I'll pair the daily readings with YouTube Streams of the services from years past. (I've included one below)

I this is your first Christmas in Bible Copy Club, you're in for a treat, I promise. If you've followed this devotional series before, I hope you'll benefit from the seasonal repetition.

In either case, my prayer and hope for this season is that you'll feel the full range of exciting and hopeful emotions that the true Christmas story embodies as you copy out the passage each morning.

Andy

God's Word In Your Hand

The Nine Lessons and Carols service was originally devised by the first Bishop of Truro, Bishop Edward White Benson in 1880. This is a recorded Nine Lessons and Carols service (recorded in early December 2020) sung by Truro Cathedral Choir. 

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