“You might be greeting Christmas this year with the awe of the shepherds or the wariness of the Magi,” Rowe said. “Either way, the Gospel reminds us that Jesus came both to experience all of the joy, uncertainty, and brokenness of our humanity, and to bring God’s kingdom near.”

Rowe also drew Episcopalians attention to three ministries supporting “the most vulnerable among us” and encouraged donations to the three, Episcopal Migration Ministries, the Good Friday Offering and Episcopal Relief & Development.

The following is Rowe’s full Christmas message.

Dear people of God in The Episcopal Church,

If you imagine yourself as a character in the Gospel Nativity readings, you’ll soon realize that the first Christmas was not about staying home by a warm hearth with chestnuts roasting and stockings hanging. Everyone in these passages is on the move, mostly without warning and against their will. Joseph and Mary are summoned from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a census. Shepherds, at the behest of an angel, leave their sheep in the fields to see what all the fuss is about. And the three Magi, my favorites, are just sitting there minding their own kingdoms when a star intrudes on their lives and leads them on an unplanned and uncomfortable trip far away from home.

The Anglican poet T.S. Eliot wrote a poem about that arduous journey from the perspective of one of the Magi, recounting, among other things, the difficulty of getting camels to do as they are told. The three kings’ encounter with the newborn son of God was hard, disruptive, and unsettling. And when they returned home—by a different road to elude capture by Herod—it no longer felt like home. In Eliot’s retelling, the first Christmas turned the Magis’ lives upside down, and they had mixed feelings about the whole experience.

You might be greeting Christmas this year with the awe of the shepherds or the wariness of the Magi. Either way, the Gospel reminds us that Jesus came both to experience all of the joy, uncertainty, and brokenness of our humanity, and to bring God’s kingdom near. The birth of the Christ Child heralds a new reality in which the last shall be first, the hungry will be fed, and the stranger among us shall be welcomed as a beloved child of God.

This Christmas, I hope that you will join me in proclaiming these good tidings by supporting the most vulnerable among us with a donation to one of these Episcopal Church ministries:

Episcopal Migration Ministries, which works with dioceses and ministry networks to serve migrants and protect their rights.

Good Friday Offering for the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, which supports lifesaving ministry in Gaza and across the Holy Land.

Episcopal Relief & Development, which works for lasting change in communities affected by injustice, poverty, disaster, and climate change.

I am grateful to be on the journey of faith with you. May God bless you and all those you love this Christmas and always.

The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

2023 Las Posadas celebration at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Photo: Courtesy of Danielle Thomas

[Episcopal News Service] Members of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a congregation with a large Latino membership, will celebrate Las Posadas next week. The Advent holiday is observed in some Latin American countries and Spain to commemorate Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.

The celebration will take place as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts raids throughout the state, leaving immigrant communities in its capital city on alert. Many Latino Christians are avoiding church services for the time being.

“Las Posadas is our way of saying that in this church, in this community, you are not alone and you are not forgotten,” the Rev. Tommy Dillon, rector of St. Margaret’s, told Episcopal News Service. “Mary and Joseph’s story is not just history; it’s happening right now for families who are looking for safety, families looking for housing and people looking for welcome. Every time we open the door to someone who’s in need, we are welcoming the Christ child himself.”

Las Posadas, Spanish for “The Inns,” originated more than 400 years ago in Spain and now is celebrated in at least Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Cuba. It is a novena – a form of worship including special prayers and services lasting nine days – told through improvisational drama from Dec. 16-24, culminating in the Christmas Eve worship service.

The Las Posadas celebration at St. Margaret’s will last one night on Dec. 17 and take place inside the church.

Members of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, celebrate Las Posadas, an Advent holiday observed in some Latin American countries and Spain to commemorate Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. At St. Margaret’s, as depicted in this photo from 2023, participants celebrate Las Posadas with a traditional Mexican meal of tamales and pozole, a soup made with hominy and meat, usually pork, that’s commonly served during Christmas and other holidays. Photo: Courtesy of Danielle Thomas

Typically, during Las Posadas, community members reenact the nativity story each night, often following a child dressed as an angel, and process, singing hymns, to a different host family’s house. When they arrive at the house, some stay with the host family members, acting as the innkeeper, and others as Mary and Joseph seeking shelter. Everyone continues singing as the Holy Family is recognized in the crowd, and then everyone gathers inside the home for a celebration with more singing, food, sweets and, in Mexico, the breaking of a piñata.

At St. Margaret’s, participants will celebrate with a traditional Mexican meal of tamales and pozole, a soup made with hominy and meat, usually pork, that’s commonly served during Christmas and other holidays.

“It is a beautiful religious tradition and a wonderful way to prepare for the arrival of our savior. Everyone is full of hope and peace,” Karla Sikaffy duPlantier, The Episcopal Church’s interim missioner for Latino Ministries, told ENS. “Especially now as ICE is tearing immigrant families apart, Las Posadas reminds us that Mary and Joseph’s journey was a journey of perseverance and the need to be hospitable with our neighbors.”

Throughout December, Louisiana, including Baton Rouge and New Orleans, has been the target of ICE raids in a sweep dubbed by the Trump administration “Operation Catahoula Crunch.” So far, “dozens” of people have been arrested, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The state is home to nine ICE detention facilities, where, as of Nov. 10, 8,137 detainees were being held.

Last month, ahead of the raids, Louisiana Bishop Shannon Duckworth issued a statement upholding the baptismal covenant’s call to respect the dignity of every human being:

“To those living in fear during this time … while we cannot prevent lawful enforcement actions, we can stand with you, spiritually, pastorally and humanely, so that fear does not have the final word.”

Dillon said members of St. Margaret’s Latino ministry, La Mesa, considered canceling this year’s La Posadas celebration but decided to continue the celebration as normal “so that we do not give in to fear.” (Baton Rouge’s Catholic bishop issued an indefinite dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass.)

Volunteers will carpool and offer to accompany Latino families planning to celebrate in person.

“We are going to make room and share the light of Jesus. … We want to be a visible sign of welcoming and for us not to do it just doesn’t seem like it’s the Gospel,” Dillon said. We have to be visible. We have to have courage. But if you don’t feel comfortable coming, there are other people that will walk this route on your behalf.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

Members of the University Choir at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, sing during a 2024 Lessons and Carols service at All Saints’ Chapel on campus. Photo: Courtesy of the University of the South

[Episcopal News Service] The student body at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, is religiously diverse, with Episcopalians making up about 20%, but the Episcopal institution holds on to its Anglican identity through its campus traditions, including its popular annual Lessons and Carols services during Advent.

“I think it’s really beautiful that people from all different walks of life can come to Lessons and Carols and, whether they’re religious or not, can feel peace and grounded-ness in the holiday season,” Hattie Robbins, a senior English and environmental sciences student from Chicago, Illinois, told Episcopal News Service. She serves as vice president of Sewanee’s 70-member University Choir.

At least 3,000 students, faculty, staff and community members are expected to attend Sewanee’s three in-person Lessons and Carols services, which will take place at 4 and 7 p.m. CT on Dec. 6 and at 4 p.m. CT on Dec. 7. About 60 members of the University Choir will sing.

Click here to watch a livestream of a Lessons and Carols service at Sewanee.

Lessons and Carols — also known as Nine Lessons and Carols, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols — is an Anglican worship service traditionally celebrated on or around Christmas Eve. During Lessons and Carols, nine stories from Scripture, including the promise of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus, are read aloud. The service usually includes Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems.

There are two very similar, yet different, services: Advent and Christmas. The prayers have slight wording changes; some of the readings are different; and the concluding prayer must be a collect particular to Advent or Christmas.

Bishop Edward White Benson, who would become archbishop of Canterbury, created the first service of nine alternating Scripture readings and carols for use in the wooden shed serving as his cathedral in Truro, England, for Christmas Eve 1880. The service was based on a medieval vigil service. Other churches adapted the format, and King’s College, Cambridge, began holding its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1918.

Sewanee’s Lessons and Carols tradition began in 1960.

“For me, Lessons and Carols is about listening for the still voice of God through the reading of the Scriptures, through the music and the liturgical movement of the service that has always spoken,” the Very Rev. Christopher “Chris” Epperson, dean of All Saints’ Chapel, told ENS. “It’s quiet, it’s still and it’s a moment to gather yourself as you prepare for the bedlam of Christmas.”

The hectic Christmas season holds extra meaning in a college setting, as students and professors are busy with final exams and graduation ceremonies in December before the fall semester concludes.

Amid the end-of-semester commotions, however, many Sewanee students and professors still take time to attend a Lessons and Carols service.

Members of the University Choir at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, light candles before a 2024 Lessons and Carols service at All Saints’ Chapel on campus. Photo: The University of the South

“As a student, I have a crazy busy schedule and choir practice three times a week preparing for Lessons and Carols, but even though rehearsals can be kind of a blur at times, they’re honestly some of the most peaceful moments I have at school,” said Robbins, a lifelong Episcopalian whose home parish is the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois. “As we light our candles and get in line as the service is about to start, an immense calm comes over all of us, and it’s so wonderful and amazing.”

Blake Burgiss, a sophomore neuroscience major from Raleigh, North Carolina, told ENS he feels the same, and though he is a Missouri Synod Lutheran, participating in the traditional Anglican services as a chorister has strengthened his faith.

“Lessons and Carols has brought me closer to the Lord through music,” said Burgiss, who leads the University Choir’s tenor section. “These services have helped me see the teachings in this new light, because the music does this great job of explaining the lessons. … The emphasis that music can have on worship can further our understanding of what we know of Scripture.”

Burgiss said he would encourage his home parish and other non-Anglican churches to begin a Lessons and Carols tradition.

“I think it’s a beautiful opportunity for any church to bring the community together and to allow the Lord to be seen in the community in that context,” he said.

For Geoffrey Harris Ward, Sewanee’s organist and choirmaster, the “ebb and flow” of reading from Scripture between singing the choral anthems and hymns enhances the learning experience. Beginning the services in silence and darkness and with the choir processing from the back to the front of the chapel, holding lit candles singing a cappella, also sets the tone for both the audience and the musicians.

“It’s embracing the feel of the season of Advent and waiting for the Lord, whose day is near. It’s significant,” Ward told ENS. “We have students in the choir who are certainly questioning their faith identity, but traditions like Lessons and Carols are planting seeds for everyone not just to enjoy and appreciate the worship experience in the moment, but also so that they continue the process of growth in terms of not only their academics and musical ability, but also their faith.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

A manger scene from Japan will be on display at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brevard, North Carolina, as part of its “No Room at the Inn” exhibit. Photo courtesy of Dolores Brown

[Episcopal News Service] Advent has arrived at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brevard, North Carolina, and the seasonal altar furnishings aren’t the only telltale signs. For three days this week, Dec. 4-6, the congregation will place tables across the pews to create makeshift displays for an exhibit of nearly 200 nativities from around the world.

The annual event, open to the community, is called “No Room at the Inn,” and it has become a beloved, festive ritual for this Western North Carolina church. The parishioners provide a diverse assortment of nativities accompanied by cards detailing their origins and distinctive features.

“It’s just a lovely way to open the doors to the community and say, ‘Hey, come and see,’” Dolores Brown, one of the event’s organizers, told Episcopal News Service.

Nativities — miniature scenes of the Holy Family at the manger, surrounded by the first Christmas visitors — are one of Advent’s most recognizable seasonal displays in Christian churches and households worldwide. A thriving consumer market also exists for nativities reflecting global cultures, from Canada to Cameroon. St. Philip’s is one of numerous Episcopal churches showcasing some of that Christian diversity as part of their Advent festivities.

St. James Episcopal Church in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, invites its community to such an exhibit Dec. 5-7 that it calls the “Wonder of Christmas.” In Ayer, Massachusetts, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church will host its annual “In a Manger” event, which began in 2001 with 75 nativities. For this year’s event at St. Andrew’s, Dec. 13 and 14, more than 400 will be on display, “each one showing the birth of Jesus through the lens of a different culture, craft tradition and artistic imagination.”

In Topeka, Kansas, Episcopal congregations are among the 30 local churches participating in the 14th annual “Nativities and Noel” event Dec. 5 and 6 hosted by the Topeka Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The nearly 900 nativities to be displayed come from about 100 different countries.

Washington National Cathedral, the landmark Episcopal cathedral in the United States’ capital city, also has incorporated a nativity exhibit into its annual Advent and Christmas festivities. “One Church, One Family” features 800 manger scenes from the cathedral’s collection and runs through Jan. 18. Most of the nativities come from cathedral member Beulah Sommer’s personal collection, which she donated to the cathedral in 1998.

“The story of the Holy Family, told in different cultures using various media and material, has the power to unite the human family amidst war, conflict and political division,” the cathedral says on its website. “Their story is our story, and their hope is our hope.”

Nearly 200 nativities will be displayed at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brevard, North Carolina, on tables placed across the church’s pews. Photo courtesy of Dolores Brown

This is the fourth year that St. Philip’s is hosting “No Room at the Inn.” The event drew about 700 visitors last year, Brown said, and she is looking forward to welcoming visitors again this week, with nativities originating from Alaska to Portugal to Japan.

Brown is contributing from her own growing collection of manger scenes. During a recent trip to Italy, she couldn’t resist shopping for examples of that country’s nativity sets.

Each nativity on display at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brevard, North Carolina, is accompanied by a card describing its origins and distinctive features. Photo courtesy of Dolores Brown

Other parishioners are donating their time to provide music in the church while visitors inspect the nativities on display. The congregation also collects donations for Episcopal Relief & Development, and like last year, this year’s donations will be specified to support ongoing relief efforts in the region after Hurricane Helene.

The event often attracts community members who have never set foot inside St. Philip’s before, Brown said, creating some “delightful” new connections.

“We’ve all discovered that doing this early Advent, it just sets the tone for the season,” she said. “It’s just been the most positive and lovely thing.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

The Church of the Intercession in Manhattan has hosted an annual Clement Clarke Moore Candlelight Carol Service since 1910. New York’s oldest continuous Christmas tradition, the service includes a reading of Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” live music, hot chocolate and a procession to the nearby cemetery to lay a wreath on Moore’s grave. Photo: Trinity Church

[Episcopal News Service] The historic Church of the Intercession in Manhattan will host its annual 114th annual Clement Clarke Moore Candlelight Carol Service on Dec. 15 at 4 p.m. Eastern in honor of the seminary professor who is best known as the author of the classic Christmas poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” The service, first held in 1910, is New York’s oldest known continuing Christmas tradition and attracts an average of 600-800 visitors every year.

“It’s a festive time of year where families from all different backgrounds come together,” Valerie West, a warden at the Church of the Intercession who helps organize the service annually, told Episcopal News Service. “This time of year, we’re celebrating the birth of Christ and also St. Nicholas, who was a saint who went around giving presents to children who were not as wealthy.”

Following tradition, this year’s carol service will include children gathering on the steps of the altar to listen to a special guest read “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” New York Bishop Matthew F. Heyd will read the poem this year.

“How you visualize the story depends on who’s reading the poem,” West said. “Everyone has their own distinct way of reading it – some are dramatic, and others aren’t.”

Volunteers dressed as Santa, elves and a reindeer will also walk around during the festivities, and antler headbands will also be handed out to children. The church’s interior will be festooned with candles, flowers and other Christmas decorations. This year’s carol service will include musical performances from Roger Lent, Levern Williams, the New York Young People’s Chorus and musicians from the Institute for the Blind.”

“I always look forward to seeing the kids singing and listening to the music at this service. They’re so full of energy and having a wonderful time and laughing,” Ana Guerrero, also an Intercession warden, told ENS. “Even the adults have fun. There’s something for everybody.”

Guerrero said the opening stanza is her favorite part of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” particularly the line, “Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

St. Nicholas served in the fourth century as bishop of Myra, in a region that today is part of Turkey. A known gift-giver, he later would become the inspiration for the modern Christmas figure Santa Claus.

Moore, a lifelong Episcopalian, was serving as a professor of oriental and Greek literature, divinity and biblical learning at General Seminary in New York City when the poem first was published anonymously on Dec. 23, 1823, in the now defunct Troy Sentinel newspaper in upstate New York. He reportedly wrote and recited the poem in 1822 as a Christmas gift to his six children. In 1837, Moore was identified publicly as the author in “The New-York Book of Poetry.” Moore included the now-famous work in his own book of poems in 1844.

“A Visit from St. Nicholas,” commonly called “The Night Before Christmas” and “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” in reference to the poem’s opening line, is best known for helping later to create ubiquitous image of Santa Claus, including his white beard, round belly and fur suit. The names of Santa’s eight flying reindeer – Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen – also originate from the poem, which is now in the public domain.

Clement Clarke Moore, a lifelong Episcopalian, reportedly wrote the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1822. The poem was published in 1823. Photo: Trinity Church

The poem is also notably read aloud in classic Christmas movies, including Disney’s “The Santa Clause,”; Warner Bros.’ “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”; and Orion Pictures’ “Prancer.”

Moore’s authorship of the poem was questioned when a daughter of Poughkeepsie farmer Henry Livingston said her father was the true author, believing him to have written the work in 1808. Livingston, who died in 1828, never claimed authorship for himself, and the daughter’s declaration took place years after the poem was first published. Debate over the authorship has continued into the 21st century.

Moore’s connection to The Episcopal Church goes beyond being a seminary professor. He was born and later lived with his own family on an estate known as Chelsea that belonged to his mother. He inherited the property after her death, and in 1819 he gave a portion of it as the site of an Episcopal seminary that had been authorized by General Convention in 1817 – General Seminary.

His father, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moore, had served as assistant rector and then rector of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York before becoming bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of New York from 1801 to 1815. While serving in that role, Benjamin Moore gave founding father Alexander Hamilton Communion on his deathbed. He then was the diocese’s second bishop until his death in 1816. Benjamin Moore also served as president of Columbia University, then known as King’s College.

When Moore died in 1863, he was buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery located in Hamilton Heights, uptown from Trinity Church in lower Manhattan. His wife, Catherine, and three of their children are also buried there. The Church of the Intercession is a former Trinity chapel located beside the uptown cemetery.

A candlelit procession to uptown Trinity Church Cemetery to lay a wreath on Moore’s grave will follow the service. Children will be given glow sticks for the processions. While gathered at the cemetery, the participants will sing Franz Xaver Gruber’s “Silent Night” and drink hot chocolate provided by members of Trinity Church.

Guerrero and West said 2020 was the only year when the formal service was closed to the public due to COVID-19. Even then, some members of the congregation laid a wreath on Moore’s grave, and post-pandemic turnout continues to grow every year.

“I’ve had phone calls from folks from all over the country asking if we’re still doing the service,” West said. “It speaks to not only tradition, but to the heart of every person.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

Trinity Wall Street in New York City’s youth chorus performs during a Christmastime Lessons and Carols service. Photo: Trinity Wall Street

[Episcopal News Service] Many Episcopal congregations nationwide are observing the 2024 Advent season with musical and family-favorite festivities, including Lessons and Carols, a beloved Anglican tradition. Many include livestream options. 

Lessons and Carols — also known as Nine Lessons and Carols, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols — is an Anglican worship service traditionally celebrated on or around Christmas Eve. During Lessons and Carols, nine stories from Scripture, including the promise of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus, are read aloud. The service usually includes singing Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems.

There are two very similar, yet different, services: Advent and Christmas. The prayers have slight wording changes; some of the readings are different; and the concluding prayer must be a collect particular to Advent or Christmas.

Bishop Edward White Benson, who would become archbishop of Canterbury, created the first service of nine alternating Scripture readings and carols for use in the wooden shed serving as his cathedral in Truro, England, for Christmas Eve 1880. The service was based on a medieval vigil service. Other churches adapted the format, and King’s College, Cambridge, began holding its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1918. An estimated 370 million people worldwide listen to the annual BBC broadcast of the service live from the college’s 583-year-old chapel, which always begins with the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City” and includes a new commissioned carol.

“Watching the BBC broadcast of the Lessons and Carols has been a Christmas Eve tradition for me for decades. The musicians are incredible,” Stuart Forster, associate for music and liturgy, organist and choirmaster of the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, told Episcopal News Service.

Click here to listen to the BBC’s live broadcast of Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve at 3 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time/10 a.m. Eastern.

The following is a list of some Episcopal parishes hosting Lessons and Carols services. Check for additional events hosted by local dioceses and parishes in your area. All events listed are free and open to the public unless specified otherwise. All times are local.

Huntsville, Alabama – St. Thomas Episcopal Church will host its annual Nine Lessons and Carols service on Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. featuring performances by the St. Thomas Choirs. Musical selections will include works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Peter Warlock and Ian Higginson. The service will be livestreamed from St. Thomas’ YouTube channel.

Denver, Colorado – On Dec. 14 and 15 at 3 p.m., St. John’s Cathedral will host a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Cathedral members and community partners will read the biblical lessons. The Dec. 14 service will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s website.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood will host its annual candlelight Lessons and Carols service on Dec. 15 at 5 p.m. as a “time-honored way to tell the Christmas story through music, Scripture and prayer.” A public reception in the parish hall will take place after the service, which will be livestreamed on St. Paul’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Sitka, Alaska – St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church’s 9 a.m. worship service on Dec. 15 will include Advent Lessons and Carols and a family Christmas pageant. The service will be livestreamed via Zoom. Email St. Peter’s at stpetersbytheseak@gmail.com for Zoom information.

West Hartford, Connecticut – On Dec. 15 at 3 p.m., St. John’s Episcopal Church will host a candlelight Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols to provide “a moment of musical peace in this often-complicated world.” The service, which will be livestreamed on St. John’s YouTube channel, will include a reception afterwards.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire – On Dec. 15 at 5 p.m., St. John’s Episcopal Church will host a family-friendly Lessons and Carols service followed by a festive potluck reception. The service will be livestreamed on St. John’s YouTube channel. The reception will offer “a moment to reflect, rejoice and let the story of Christ’s love shape our Advent and Christmas journey.”

Beaumont, Texas – St. Mark’s Episcopal Church will host a Festival of Lessons & Carols on Dec. 15 at 4 p.m. followed by a reception. A musical prelude begins at 4:45 p.m. The service will be livestreamed on St. Mark’s Facebook page.

Wilmington, North Carolina – on Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will host a Lessons and Carols service featuring its choir under the direction of Brendan Conner. The service will be livestreamed on St. Paul’s YouTube channel.

Wilmington, Delaware – The Episcopal Church in Delaware will host a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. at the Village of St. John, an affordable housing complex for seniors located at the former site of the diocese’s now-closed Cathedral Church of St. John. The service will be livestreamed on the diocese’s YouTube channel. The worship bulletin will also be available to view online on the day of the service.

Seattle, Washington – The Episcopal Church of the Ascension will host a Lessons and Carols service on Dec. 22 at 4 p.m. followed by a festive reception. The service will be streamed on Ascension’s YouTube channel.

Seattle, Washington – On Dec. 22 at 5:30 p.m., Epiphany Parish Seattle will host a Lessons and Carols for Christmas service featuring the Epiphany Choir. A festive reception will follow. The service will be livestreamed on Epiphany’s YouTube channel.

New York, New York – On Dec. 24 at 4 p.m., St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan will hosts a livestreamed Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service featuring the parish’s St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. The choir consists of a professional men’s choir and choristers of St. Thomas Choir School, one of only three all-boys boarding schools in the world that exclusively educate treble choristers.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has released his annual Christmas message, saying by video that he is grateful for all the prayers as he recovers from his latest surgery.

Curry underwent emergency surgery on Dec. 4 to treat a subdural hematoma, or brain bleed, that doctors diagnosed after  he suffered a fall during a visit to the Diocese of Central New York. He has since been released from the hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he lives.

In his Christmas message, Curry said he was doing well and “ever more aware of the power of the messages of Advent to watch, to wait, and to listen to the pregnant voice of silence.”

The following is the full transcript of Curry’s Christmas message, as released by the Office of Public Affairs.

Hello to my family of faith in The Episcopal Church, and to all of our ecumenical and interfaith friends, and to all people of love and goodwill.

I want to first thank you all for your prayers and well wishes this year as I have weathered some health issues. Please know that I’m doing well, following the doctor’s orders.

I’m also ever more aware of the power of the messages of Advent to watch, to wait, and to listen to the pregnant voice of silence, as one version of the Bible says. And out of that watching, waiting, and listening, following the way of Jesus of Nazareth and his way of love, the Spirit of God being our helper.

So please allow me to offer a reading from the Gospel according to Luke. You know it well. The deep truth embedded in it, simple story of the birth of a baby. That deep truth has long given me strength for these 70 years, strength that I often did not have on my own. For some, it may seem fanciful, but in its own way, it points to what the Bible calls hope beyond hope. It reads:

While Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to deliver her child. She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the guest room. Now in that same region, there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

The message of the angel is as scandalous and striking now as it was then. For in it is embedded God’s message in the death and resurrection of Jesus: to trust and believe in the invincibility of the good in spite of the titanic reality of evil, because God is good all the time. To trust and believe in the enduring power of love, of truth, of the good, and of justice when the reality of the opposite seems so prodigious.

To trust and believe in the enduring power of love, justice, kindness, and compassion, all because God is love and the author of all that is true, noble, and just. “Do not be afraid,” the Scripture says, “for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

Lord, we pray, give us this sign anew. Give us the lowly, the tired, those of high estate and low, and those of no estate. Church folk, those who haven’t stepped through the red doors for years or ever, give us all a sign. Give us the working, the watching, the weeping. Give us that sign anew; as you did in the first century, so now in the 21st. Give us the expected, the faithful, the passionate, the undeserving; give us a sign.

“The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.’”

On behalf of the entire Episcopal Church, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a joyous new year.

God love you. God bless you. May God hold us all in those almighty hands of love. Merry Christmas.

Actor Scott Bolger portrays Clement Clarke Moore, author of the beloved Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and a professor at General Seminary, in a film commissioned by the seminary to mark the poem’s 200th anniversary. Photo: General Seminary

[Episcopal News Service] The General Theological Seminary has commissioned a 15-minute film to mark the 200th anniversary of Clement Clarke Moore’s beloved Christmas poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” – better known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The film will be available for viewing online on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.

Moore, a lifelong Episcopalian, was serving as a professor of oriental and Greek literature, divinity and biblical learning at General Seminary in New York City when the poem first was published in 1823.

The film, “Mr. Moore’s Gift,” tells the story of Moore’s writing of the poem through the eyes of a young girl, Maggie, and explores the past through dream sequences. It was produced by Six Half Dozen: Creative Studio and was filmed on the seminary campus during one week in September. It was written by Non Vaughan O’Hagan.

The film will preview on Dec. 19 to those attending an event at the seminary marking Moore’s induction into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame.

The Very Rev. Ian Markham, the seminary’s president, told Episcopal News Service by email that the seminary commissioned the film to celebrate not only the Christmas season but also the special nature of General’s campus. “GTS has always had a very strong sense of place,” he said. “The beauty of the movie is that we are reminded afresh how special the place is. It is a place of deep creativity, which is associated with something utterly beautiful and compelling – namely the magic of Christmas.”

Six Half Dozen was selected to make the film because it has produced short films and provided photography and other creative services for both General Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary. The two seminaries in 2022 entered into an affiliation agreement.

The cost of making the film will be covered by gifts, Nicky Burridge, the seminary’s vice president for communications, told ENS.

Adam Senior, the studio’s digital director and producer, served as the film’s director and executive producer. He told ENS by email that it was a pleasure working with the seminary to produce the movie. “The goal for myself and as a studio was to create something that elevated the seminary yet was also relatable to a wider audience, something that my children would enjoy. I feel like we’ve achieved that and have created something rather magical.”

Skye Sconiers, playing Maggie, watches Scott Bolger portrays Clement Moore during a film about the writing of Moore’s poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” Photo: General Seminary

Moore reportedly wrote and recited the poem in 1822 as a Christmas gift to his six children. It was published anonymously in the Troy (New York) Sentinel on Dec. 23, 1823, and in 1837 he was identified publicly as the author in “The New-York Book of Poetry.” Moore included the now-famous work in his own book of poems in 1844.

Moore’s authorship of the poem was questioned when a daughter of Poughkeepsie farmer Henry Livingston said her father was the true author, believing him to have written the work in 1808. Livingston, who died in 1828, never claimed authorship for himself, and the daughter’s declaration took place years after the poem was first published. Debate over the authorship has continued into the 21st century.

Beyond his employment as a seminary professor, the connection between Moore and The Episcopal Church runs deep. Moore was born and later lived with his own family on an estate known as Chelsea that belonged to his mother. He inherited the property after her death, and in 1819 he gave a portion of it as the site of an Episcopal seminary that had been authorized by General Convention in 1817 – General Seminary. His father, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moore, had served as assistant rector and then rector of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York before becoming bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of New York from 1801 to 1815. He then was the diocese’s second bishop until his death in 1816.

When Clement Moore died in 1863, he was buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery located in Hamilton Heights, uptown from Trinity Church and its churchyard in lower Manhattan, as were his wife, Catherine, and three of their children.

As it has for the past century, Church of the Intercession, which is located next to the cemetery, will host its annual reading of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” on Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. Eastern, which will be followed by a procession to Moore’s grave for a brief memorial. Vincent Boudreau, president of The City College of New York, will read the poem.

The poem’s ongoing impact

According to former General Seminary librarian Melissa Chim, Moore’s poem helped create the modern American version of Santa Claus, “’dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,’ with twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks, a snow white beard and a round belly.” Chim noted that this Santa was “a jolly elf bringing joy with his reindeer-led sleigh to both children and adults.”

One of the first illustrated copies of the poem was printed in 1830 in the Troy Sentinel. It included an engraving by Myron B. King that showed Santa with a sleigh and eight reindeer on a roof. Thomas Nast, a Civil War-era cartoonist with the magazine Harper’s Weekly, created his enduring image of Santa Claus in 1883 that was inspired by the poem’s depiction of St. Nicholas.

Some of this year’s White House Christmas decorations incorporate nods to Moore’s poem in honor of its 200th anniversary. A variety of editions of the poem loaned by the Library of Congress are displayed in cases for visitors to see. Santa and his team of reindeer fly across the ceiling of the Grand Foyer and are featured flying above the large gingerbread White House in the State Dining Room.

No original manuscript of the poem exists, but Moore later did produce some hand-written versions of it. One of these signed copies sold for $280,000 in 2006. At that time, three known existing copies in Moore’s handwriting were in museum collections.

–Melodie Woerman is a freelance writer and former director of communications for the Diocese of Kansas.

Thousands of pilgrims arrive at the Basilica of Guadalupe on Dec. 12, 2022, to celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe on the 491st anniversary of her apparition on Cerro del Tepeyac in Mexico City. Photo: Luis Barron/AP

[Episcopal News Service] When Pennsylvania Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez, was a child growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe every Dec. 12 and Christmas later in the month were equally significant for him and his Mexican American family.

They would attend a special Catholic Mass, sing songs of praise, participate in their South Broadway neighborhood’s procession, visit altars brimming with roses and share meals with their neighbors. The boys would dress as St. Juan Diego Cuahtlatoazin — the Chichimec peasant who is said to have received visions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the many Catholic titles referring to the Virgin Mary — and the girls would dress as angels.

Even though Gutiérrez has been an Episcopalian for about 25 years now, Our Lady of Guadalupe, known as “Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe,” “Virgen de Guadalupe” and “La Morenita” in Spanish, still plays a significant role in his life. He keeps a picture of her on his office desk, and every day he dons a necklace bearing her image around his neck, the only metal jewelry he wears. To Gutiérrez, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, is not only faith, but culture and identity.

In this undated photo, Pennsylvania Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez, left, celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe as a young boy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is dressed as St. Juan Diego Cuahtlatoazin, the Chichimec peasant who reportedly saw apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531. Photo: Daniel Gutiérrez

“[Our Lady of Guadalupe] speaks in many ways. She’s not anchored to one religious tradition,” he told Episcopal News Service.

Celebrations for Our Lady of Guadalupe begin on Dec. 9, the feast day of St. Juan Diego Cuahtlatoazin — more commonly known as Juan Diego — who reportedly saw her apparitions in 1531, 10 years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, on the Hill of Tepeyac in present-day Mexico City. Speaking to Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl language, the young, dark-skinned woman identified herself as Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, and asked Juan Diego to build a temple on the spot on top of the hill where she appeared to him. After the fourth of five apparitions, Juan Diego approached Juan de Zumárraga, the first Catholic bishop of Mexico, wearing a cloak stuffed with roses. When he opened his cloak and dropped all the roses, it displayed a detailed image of the Virgin Mary, depicted as a pregnant Indigenous woman wearing traditional attire.

“This is the mother coming to her children,” Gutiérrez said.

Hundreds of years later, Our Lady of Guadalupe remains a central figure of Mexican culture. Today, millions of people make a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City every year.

In 2018, two years into Gutiérrez’s episcopacy, the diocese celebrated its first Mass dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Since then, the diocese has celebrated her feast day. The diocese celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day on Dec. 10 this year at St. John’s Church at the diocesan center in Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia. Festivities included a special Mass, a mariachi concert and a meal in the parish hall.

The Rev. Christopher Schwenk, vicar of St. John’s since 2022, told ENS that one of the “most beautiful moments” in the celebration is when everyone comes forward in a single-file line to lay a rose at the feet of a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a “beautiful and natural” symbol of their prayers, which are then believed to be carried to God.

“I think seeing that physically acted out and lived out, in bringing roses to Mary, is something that just touched my heart when I saw it … I was filled with tears,” he said. “It’s beautiful to see people offer their prayers and take that moment to pause and reflect before her image and then go back to ordinary life. It’s this sign of utter trust and utter devotion to Mary as an example of our faith.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day is also celebrated in other Episcopal dioceses, including the Diocese of Virginia. On Dec. 10, Virginia Bishop E. Mark Stevenson celebrated the feast day at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Leesburg, a bilingual parish. The Rev. Daniel Vélez Rivera, St. Gabriel’s rector, served as Stevenson’s interpreter during the worship service.

A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe sits in front of the altar at St. John’s Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania. The congregation celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 10, 2023, two days before her feast day. Photo: St. John’s Church

The feast day is typically celebrated over four days, beginning with the celebration of Juan Diego, and celebrations continue throughout the Pennsylvania diocese, including at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in New Hope, St. Jude & the Nativity in Lafayette Hill and Church of the Crucifixion in Philadelphia. St. Jude & the Nativity and Church of the Crucifixion are both predominantly Latino parishes. St. Jude’s is the temporary church home for parishioners of Church of the Crucifixion, which is under construction.

The Rev. Yesenia Alejandro, the first Latina priest in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, is missioner and vicar of both St. Jude’s and Crucifixion. When Alejandro, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was ordained as a priest in 2020, she encountered “much pain by many folks,” especially Hispanic men, who didn’t like the idea of having a female priest. In response, Alejandro placed a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe over the altar in the sanctuary of St. Jude’s, where a crucifix would normally be.

“I could not understand how someone who said they love the Virgen de Guadalupe, who believes in the mother of Christ, would treat me or any woman this way. I wanted them to see the God in me, to teach folks that if you love la Virgen de Guadalupe, then you can love what I can teach you” Alejandro told ENS. “Everyone that comes to church knows that God is the center of our lives. So, I decided I would put the Virgen de Guadalupe in front of the church as a reminder.”

Alejandro said she looks forward to celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day every year because she enjoys the music, liturgy and message of hope.

“The joy, the cries, the celebration of faith is amazing, and it helps us grow to accept and love folk from all around the world,” she said. “This is one of the reasons why it’s important to understand culture, because we [Latinos] have very different ways of how our faith is expressed.”

Musicians perform at a special Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2022 at St. Jude & the Nativity Episcopal Church, a predominantly Latino parish in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. Photo: David Cruz

Gutiérrez and Alejandro both said that celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe as a diocese is a way to understand and embrace different cultures, which is especially significant as the Diocese of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia metropolitan area become increasingly diverse.

Philadelphia’s Latino population nearly tripled between 2000 and 2021. As of 2021, nearly a quarter of a million Latinos live in Philadelphia, comprising 15.2% of the city’s population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Gutiérrez said the Latino population’s growth in Philadelphia also reflects the growing number of Latinos, especially of Mexican heritage, filling the pews of the diocese’s 135 parishes. Gutiérrez said that one of his goals as bishop is to provide a chance for Latino Episcopalians to live out their faith and culture without worry, and for them to comfortably enjoy memories from their homeland.

“They should come in and feel welcomed and loved, that they can bring their history, their past, to present reality and not have someone else’s reality imposed on them. And that reflects on the message of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, of Our Lady of Guadalupe.” Gutiérrez said. “With colonialism, you had to forget your identity and where you came from. But Our Lady of Guadalupe takes everything beautiful about the Indigenous communities and will, I think, always be in the hearts of people, especially the marginalized, who identify with her because that’s who she appeared to.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas, receives a visit from St. Nicholas to kick off Advent. Photo: Carl Youngberg, via episcopalchurch.org

Several Episcopal bishops have issued statements timed to Dec. 6, the feast day for St. Nicholas, ceremoniously granting him “permission” to travel within their dioceses – presumably to deliver toys and other delights to good girls and boys according to the common Christian tradition during Advent.

St. Nicholas served in the fourth century as bishop of Myra, in a region that today is part of Turkey. He later would become the inspiration for the modern Christmas figure Santa Claus.

As “a bishop from another diocese,” even Nicholas would need permission to visit the Diocese of Western North Carolina. Permission granted, wrote Western North Carolina Bishop José McLoughlin.

“May his presence bring blessings to us all and inspire in us the spirit of giving, joy and generosity to those we love and those in need. I am positively jolly to grant his request,” McLoughlin said in his Dec. 6 letter.

Arizona Bishop Jennifer Reddall and Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor issued similar proclamations, welcoming St. Nicholas to minister in their dioceses.

“May his presence be a blessing and a sign of hope for all,” Taylor said.

“I encourage every family in our diocese to make room for Bishop Nicholas and offer him your own gifts – I hear he enjoys cookies and milk,” Reddall wrote.

Oklahoma Bishop Poulson Reed went a step further and released a video declaration for the feast day. It was recorded at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City under a stained-glass window honoring St. Nicholas.

“May the ministry of this godly bishop, both seen and unseen, in churches, schools and homes, inspire in human hearts a deep love for our savior Jesus Christ,” Reed said, “and a spirit of generosity in our gift-giving, especially towards children and those in need.”

Nicholas is remembered as a protector of children, though most of the details of his biography are lost to history.

“Many of the accounts of Nicholas’ life recount his habit of secret gift-giving to those in need, a tradition that many Christians have felt inspired to continue in his honor,” according to the entry for his feast day in The Episcopal Church’s “Lesser Feasts and Fasts.”

Bishop Mark Edington, who leads the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, said in a Facebook post that he chose to leave the ceremonial declarations to other bishops but wanted to use the occasion to draw attention to “the role Turkey played in the early centuries of the church.”

With that in mind, Edington said he planned to mark St. Nicholas’ feast day by donating to Episcopal Relief & Development to support humanitarian relief to the communities in Turkey still recovering from a deadly and devastating earthquake in February.

“The attention of the world has moved on to other crises, but as the winter sets in again the people left amid the ruins are still struggling to rebuild and recover,” Edington wrote. “May Saint Nicholas’ spirit of generosity guide us in our use of the resources entrusted to us.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.