A service of Advent Lessons and Carols at 5 pm Sunday, November 27, will mark the beginning of a new season on the church calendar and a loving farewell to our bishop diocesan.

The service is the Cathedral’s gift to Bishop Smith, who will resign December 10 and will be succeeded by our Bishop Coadjutor, the Right Rev. Douglas F. Scharf. Bishop Smith will be the officiant at the service and will be honored at a festive reception in Harvard Hall.

If you enjoy the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, that is broadcast every Christmas Eve, this service of readings and music that point the way to Christmas will strike a familiar note. The service opens with a candlelighting in which the flame is passed from person to person until the entire nave is bathed in flickering light. Eight readings trace the story of salvation, from the Garden of Eden through the birth of Jesus to the promise of Christ’s second coming. The readings are accompanied by 14 carols or hymns, some old, some new. The service replaces our usual Choral Evensong for November.