The 2023 Carol Service
Watch online
To celebrate Christmas, a Service of Lessons and Carols is held each year in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist in Tisbury, Wiltshire. You can watch the 2023 service on the church’s YouTube channel here from 1800 GMT onwards on Friday 22nd December. Taking part are clergy from the three local churches with the lessons read by members of the local community, and the music led by St John’s Church Choir. The order of service is here..
Our celebration of the Christmas story is told through a series of readings from the prophecy of the Messiah’s birth to the story of the birth itself and the visits of the shepherds and the wise men. The sequence culminates with the Prologue to St John’s Gospel: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
The readings, read by representatives from the local community, are interspersed with some much-loved carols as well as some less familiar ones. Carols this year include Once in royal David’s city, Hark the herald angels sing and Gustav Holst’s setting of In the bleak midwinter. The choir performs choral pieces Richard Shephard, Andrew Carter and Stuart Robinson.
Photography: Anthony Lovell-Wood.
