Welcome the start of the journey to Christmas at our special Advent services.

From Sunday 30 November we move into the season of Advent.

Throughout the Sunday choral Eucharist service at 10 am the choir will sing Haydn’s Little Organ Mass, accompanied by the organ and Cathedral Strings.

In the evening at 7pm, the Advent Carol service will open with the choir singing Richard Marlow’s Advent Responsory with music “freely based on J S Bach’s choral harmonisation “Wachet auf'” (according to the composers notes).  The traditional Bible readings and messages are accompanied by well-known hymns for the congregation to sing, and anthems from the Cathedral Choir and organ.

Advent Carols service sheet

Nine Lessons & Carols –  Sunday 21 December from 7pm

The ‘Nine Lessons & Carols’ service has an interesting history.  It is a ‘modern’ tradition as the first service was held at King’s College Cambridge in the UK on Christmas Eve 1918 as a more imaginative service after the horrors of World War I.  The service has been broadcast annually on radio in Britain since the late 1920s and has been taken up as a special service by Anglican churches and their choirs around the world.  

This is a celebratory candlelight service with the Cathedral Choir and organ. The service includes nine specific Bible readings that speak of the birth of the Messiah, the Christ, interspersed with carols by the choir and hymns for the congregation. Many congregations enjoy this Christmas ‘event’ with their families.

So … what’s Advent?