Sunday, December 7, 2025 | 5:00 & 8:00 pm
Cannon Memorial Chapel
University of Richmond

The readers represent the campus community. We are grateful for their participation in the service.

The Chapel decorations are a gift of the University of Richmond’s Chapel Guild. The Chaplaincy thanks all who have given poinsettias in memory and in honor of their loved ones.

The Chaplaincy thanks the Chapel Guild members who decorated the Chapel so beautifully and the staff of University Facilities and Events, Conferences and Support Services for their help in preparing for the services.

Please silence all electronic devices upon entering the Chapel. Recording and photography are prohibited during the service.

Tonight is the 52nd annual Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols at the University of Richmond. The service began in 1974 as a partnership between the Office of the Chaplaincy and the Department of Music. 

The Candlelight service has evolved through the decades, beginning as a worship service with sermon, scripture lessons, hymns, and anthems, and then taking on the current form of nine lessons and carols in the early 2000s. The service grew in popularity and attendance such that a second, identical service was added in 1997. The nine lessons, opening prayer, and benediction have remained consistent since the adoption of the current format, and the readers continue to be chosen to represent the University of Richmond community. The choice of carols has varied and new ones have been introduced. Over time, the service also has become important for the wider Richmond region. For many, attending has become a family tradition that marks the beginning of the Christmas season.

The service is modeled after the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols that is held annually in King’s College Chapel at Cambridge University in England. The first service was held on Christmas Eve 1918 and was planned by Eric Milner-White, who had just been appointed Dean of King’s College after completing his experience as an army chaplain. In 1919, a revision of the liturgy was made involving rearrangement of the lessons, and from that date, the service has always begun with the hymn, Once in Royal David’s City.

The main theme of the service is the development of the loving purposes of God as seen through the images and the words of the Bible. The center of the service is still found by those who “go in heart and mind” and consent to follow where the story leads. 

May the beauty of this service and the peace of the Christmas story be yours this evening and throughout this sacred season.  

Craig T. Kocher
Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life
University Chaplain and Jessie Ball duPont Chair of the Chaplaincy