King's College Cambridge 2011 #1 Once in Royal David's City

[johnm28med]

It simply is not Christmas without listening to this broadcast on Christmas Eve morning at 10:00 am in New England! For a magical hour and half time slows down and I am able to think about the meaning of Christmas through this glorious music.

[MyDragon246]

The choir reflects the quality of the University and Kings College.

[optimatus]

Thank you for posting. We are always enjoying the music from Cambridge. Happy New Year from the Netherlands to all who read this. May 2012 bring what you have missed in 2011 and may the blessing of God, +Father, +Son and +Holy Ghost be with you now and forever.

[carloCGN]

I love the arrangement from 03:55 - this is really new. WOW

[lsfromtexas]

Thank you for posting this video - always a highlight of the Christmas holiday. I noticed that the carols on the video are quite different than those on BBC Radio 4's broadcast of A Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols on December 24, 2011. Do you know the selection process for the carols on the radio broadcast relative to those used for the video? The radio broadcast seems to present a much broader range of carols. Just wondering? Thanks again. Cheers!

[kathytrev8]

Love this! This is truly a Blessing to watch! Merry Christmas to All :)

[carolinebanwell]

Well done, Alex. Lovely solo performance and live radio performance was even better.

[Mischafour]

Thank you SO much for posting the Carols From King's series so quickly! I appreciate all your work, you're very kind indeed to do all this so that those of us who didn't have the opportunity to watch it, can now do so. I'm delighted that the delightful chorister who had the solo in "I Saw Three Ships" last year, had the wonderful chance to sing the "solo heard around the world" this year before his voice changes. Surely he will treasure the memory for the rest of his life.

[maggijude]

thanks for posting again...from the shore of the Sea of Galilee

[chandilah]

I have been listening all day as I am able--cant tear myself away. My heart is so full and comforted. In this song I recall His entire life of love and service--for me, for us. Thanks to you Spiritdei. May you share in His comfort and joy.

[pcbwhe]

Thank you once again for posting this incredible service of worship! It is so appreciated and looked forward to. From Langley, British Columbia in the Dominion of Canada, greetings to you all at the birth of the King of Kings!

[drtetsuo]

Best to listen to in Cambridge. Merry Christmas to all in the world!

[babycharmnappies]

thank you Spiritdei for posting...your turning into a christmas tradition!!!! Happy Christmas to you and yours...

[treblechoir99]

The tradition continues for us all. Thank you for this great moment. Merry Christmas for you, family and friends, also your country.

[1finch2finch]

Lovely solo from a voice that I believe I remember from last year's service. Thank you so much for uploading these carols every year, Spiritdei-- and quicker and quicker as the years go on, it seems. This music is such a joy and a comfort in difficult times--and certain lines of this carol especially so--and I look forward to simply being able to sit and listen more than I look forward to just about any other small ritual that I keep. Have a very happy Christmas, and thanks again.

[hiker84]

If indeed there is a heaven as we have been taught, when we reach that plane we will recognize the voices of the angels, for we have head them here on earth. Beautiful, beautiful singing. Thank you so much spritdei for these Christmas presents for us all. Merry Christmas from the Music City, Nashville, Tn, USA.

[lynnkramer1211]

I've been listening to your choir for years. I am certain that I am hearing the voices of the angels through your mouths. A joyful and blessed Christmas from us at the Saint John the Evangelist Cathedral, of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, USA

[fernandomartelli1]

Thanks for this chistmas gift! This is amazing!!!

[spiritdei]

@fernandomartelli1 My sincere pleasure!

[brassspitoon]

Thank you spiritdei for posting this video so quickly. May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep the heart and mind of us all in the love of his son Jesus Christ, whose Incarnation we celebrate. . Another observation: one of the choral scholars (thin face, puffy dark hair) has been there it seems forever, even as a boy chorister. I've seen him in many of the prior years services. Happy Christmas you you say in Britain. Merry Christmas to the rest of the world.

[spiritdei]

@brassspitoon Thanks and Same to you and yours!

[lynnkramer1211]

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord 2011

The Liturgy always affirms what the response to the psalm of Midnight Mass proclaims: ‘Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord’. It was not 2000 years ago that Christ was born, died and rose…but ‘today’. In the Mystery of the Divine Liturgy, Christ was truly born today. In the Dawn Mass the response to the psalm is counter posed: ‘A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us’.

[lynnkramer1211]

The Liturgy is therefore characterised as a school of faith. Only the eyes of faith know how to see this ‘today’. Only those who believe can recognise that the Lord’s birth isn’t a nostalgic memory, a childish fable, or worse yet, a consoling illusion. The faith sees that today a Saviour is born.Grace is invisible and so how can it appear to us? How can one see the Glory of God? We can see both in Christ’s human face.

[lynnkramer1211]

We are still talking about the theme of faith. Those who look at the Child of Bethlehem with faith do not see only a man, but God, the Invisible made visible, the Word made Flesh, Grace in Person who has taken our human nature.

[lynnkramer1211]

Faith is not an irrational choice without its foundations in thoughts and words because Christianity is faith in the Logos. The Logos is the Thought-Word in God, who made Himself man for our salvation. In the second reading of Midnight Mass St Paul says: ‘For the grace of God has appeared’ (Ti 2:11). The psalm of the Dawn Mass affirms: ‘all peoples see his glory,’ which really means that they saw the Glory of God.

[lynnkramer1211]

The credibility of the faith rests on the credibility of Jesus Christ, on the uniqueness of His words, on the signs that accompany Him and demonstrate the true and efficacious Words of God. For this reason, ‘the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had seen and heard, just as they had been told’ (Gospel of the Mass at Dawn Lk 2:20).

[lynnkramer1211]

We do not glorify an unknown, enigmatic God.  We adore He whom we know, who we have seen and touched because His Life was made visible. The Lord’s Nativity teaches us the concreteness of Christianity that is not a sentiment, but a relationship of the mind and heart with a Person, Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate. The prologue to St John’s Gospel, which is proclaimed during the Mass of Christmas Day, is dedicated is to that Word Incarnate.