The dedicated and talented St. Joseph’s Parish Choir at 174 Wilbrod Street, led by Jamie Loback, Director of Music and Liturgy, hosted the annual St. Joseph’s Parish Festival of Lessons and Carols on Sunday, December 21, in support of the St. Joe’s Supper Table community meal programme and food bank. The service, elevated by music that is among the best of any church in Ottawa, raised $4,000 in support of the Supper Table, which serves a hot dinner each weekday, coffee and sandwiches, and operates two food bank services per week. More than 160 parishioners and members of the broader Ottawa community joined the 30 choristers, and stayed for a reception and time of fellowship following the service.
Popularized in the nineteenth century by the Chapel Choir at King’s College in Cambridge, England, the Festival of Lessons and Carols includes nine Scripture readings, or lessons, which take us through Salvation history. Beginning with the Fall of man and the entry of original sin, the readings, carols and hymns explore the promise of the Messiah, the Incarnation and the Great Commission to preach the Good News. A programme booklet with lyrics to many of the carols encouraged congregational singing. The lessons were read by a wide range of choristers and St. Joseph’s parishioners, representing all ages and the diversity of backgrounds found in this faith community. At times during service, the mid-afternoon sun — rather absent for the past weeks — streamed in through the stained glass windows, illuminating the grand neo-Gothic church.
Among the carols were “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “There Is No Rose of Such Virtue,” “Angels We have Heard on High,” “As With Gladness Men of Old,” “The Herald Angels Sing,” and “Away in a Manger.” The version of the latter shared at this festival was Ola Gjeilo’s arrangement, which best encapsulates and sets the tone for the mystery that is the Incarnation.
The carols sung encapsulated the essence of Christmas: the light and the hope of universal redemption in the incarnate God — Jesus, the King of Kings, who is born on the most distant peripheries of a great empire, on the margins of society. Perhaps none encapsulated that hope of God with us more explicitly than the verse: “As with gladness men of old, Did the guiding star behold,As with joy they hailed its light, Leading onward, beaming bright. So most gracious God, may we Evermore be led to thee.”
Christopher Adam
Born in Montreal, Christopher Adam has called Ottawa home for the past twenty years. He received his MA from Carleton University, with a thesis focusing on twentieth century European church history, and a PhD in History from the University of Ottawa. Over the years, he has published widely and works in the faith-based charitable sector in Ottawa.