Hillsdale College Chapel Choir will host Lessons and Carols service Dec. 8 in Christ Chapel at 6 p.m. 

This year marks the fourth annual service, according to Director of Sacred Music Timothy McDonnell. 

The program, a traditional Anglican Christmas service, consists of nine scripture readings spanning from Genesis through the New Testament, interspersed with Christmas carols. Music repertoire for the service will include “Once in Royal David’s City,” “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

“We like to blend fairly well-known carols that the congregation enjoys singing with several choir solos that feature unusual fare,” McDonnell said. “The idea is to celebrate the season, but also to learn new beautiful things that will keep inspiring us all year long.”

Freshman Owen Ferguson said the service is the choir’s Christmas program. According to Ferguson, the event will be similar to the choir’s normal choral Evensong service.

“We have Evensong every week, which is an evening prayer service, but Lessons and Carols is specifically for Christmas,” Ferguson said. “We will have lots of Christmas carols and other hymns interspersed with readings for the birth of Christ.” 

McDonnell said the Chapel Choir had a shorter amount of time to rehearse, but they have made a lot of progress.

“We had a pretty short cycle to prepare Lessons and Carols this year because of the slightly later date for our Fall Concert on Nov. 8,” McDonnell said. “But we jumped right into rehearsals, and we’re excited by the repertoire. That helped us cover a lot of ground quickly.”

According to McDonnell, there will be about 16 pieces on the program, some that will be sung exclusively by the choir and others that will invite the audience to sing along. 

McDonnell said the instrumentation and process of Lessons and Carols is a good precursor to Christmas. 

“It’s always a thrill to hear the full chapel sing favorite carols of the season accompanied by brass,” McDonnell said. “It really prepares us well for Christmas.”