Dragons Welcome Here! A Favorite Christmas Tradition: The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College (via BBC)

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the Christmas Eve choir service held in the beautiful King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England (info here).

First introduced in 1918 as a more creative, celebratory service, the Festival, which features a traditional sequence of choral music and a newly-commissioned carol each year, highlights a panorama of the Scriptures illustrating the Gospel -- using both the Old and New Testaments.

Since its first broadcast in 1928, the Festival has become a tradition which is now broadcast around the world (and over the Internet) by the BBC.

You may listen to it freely on BBC Radio (here).

The Festival is known to be a sure remedy for Dragons ... and what ails them.

No One Home: Twas the Week after Christmas, and All Thru the Church, No Creature Was Stirring ... Well, Except for the Dragons

'Twas the week after Christmas
and all through the church,
Not a Creature was stirring

... Well, except for the Dragons,
who were likely to stamp and thrash
and snarl and breathe
howling imprecations and maledictions,

All of which would be very tedious
... and not much fun at Christmas.

(And, besides, all that stamping and thrashing
is extremely hard on the furniture.)

~~~*~~~

The entire staff of First Baptist Church of Bolivar is on Christmas vacation.
(All of 'em? Yeah, we were stunned, too.)

But, rather than leave these documents and materials in the ah, ... talons of dragons, we will wait until some portion of the staff returns on Friday, January 2, 2009.

However, we will be posting the initial letters and opening the accompanying website on Thursday, January 1, 2009.

~~~*~~~

The Trinity Correspondence:
"The Invitations to Reconciliation"


The first letter, which will be waiting for their return
from Christmas vacation on January 2,
is addressed to:

Current Pastor Billy Russell, Former Pastor Ray Leininger,
and Former Interim Pastor Rodney Reeves and the Staff,
Trustees, Deacons of the First Baptist Church of Bolivar

and
and will, subsequently, be delivered to:
the Southwest Baptist University Trustees
and Administration

and the Missouri Baptist Convention
Executive Board and Administration

This initial letter is be supported by correspondence to:

Pastor Gary Ankrom
and the
First Assembly of God of Bolivar

and
the Student Government Association
of Southwest Baptist University

and the Faculty Senate
of Southwest Baptist University


~~~*~~~