All are welcome to attend A Service of Light with Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols at
Birmingham Cathedral.
In the days following Christmas, the Church celebrates a number of feasts marking the revelation
of Christ to the world, culminating finally in the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple,
also known as Candlemas. This Feast, celebrated on 2 February, draws our Christmas celebrations to a close. We now turn our attention from Jesus’ birth and begin looking towards the saving events of his death and resurrection, which we mark during Holy Week and Easter.
A Ceremony of Carols touches on a number of these themes, from the revelation of Christ’s birth in ‘There is no Rose’, to the promise of salvation in ‘This Little Babe’ with the poetic reminder that ‘This little Babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan’s fold’!
Sung by the Boys’ and Girls’ choirs of Birmingham Cathedral, accompanied by harp, this beautiful text and music offers to us all gifts of joy and hope.
