Choirs of the Cathedral of Christ the King will present the 20th annual program of “Advent Lessons and Carols: People Look East!” on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 4 p.m.

Eight of the Cathedral’s musical ensembles, including the boy choir, girl choir, preparatory children’s choir, and several adult choirs, provide beautiful music in this program to accompany the Scripture readings of the Advent season.

This Cathedral tradition reflects the joyful expectation of Advent and is held in the late afternoon when candlelight and the setting sun illuminate the church and reflect its visual and acoustic beauty. The hour-long service might be described as an extended Liturgy of the Word.

Advent lessons and carols have been sung in churches of all Christian denominations all over the world since the late 1800s. Dr. Wylie Quinn, theologian and musician, notes, “The Lessons, or readings, are taken from the Law, the Prophets and the Gospels, bringing together the full witness of the Christian canon. Sometimes the link between the Old and the New is the fulfillment of prophecy: the branch that shall come forth from the stem of Jesse; the Virgin who will conceive and bear a son; the peaceable Messianic kingdom where the lion will lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them.”

The music for the service spans over 11 centuries of holiday song from all over the world, directed by Kevin Culver, choirmaster at the Cathedral, and accompanied by Timothy Wissler, Cathedral organist. An engaging mix of hymns and songs, some by great masters such as Georg Friedrich Handel, Herbert Howells and the Cathedral’s own Ken Macek, will ring out in the gathering dusk. A special arrangement of the traditional spiritual “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burnin’” will be presented by the Cathedral’s boy choir. The choirs will be accompanied by the music of stringed and wind instruments and the Cathedral’s magnificent organ.

All members of the archdiocesan family are warmly invited to attend this special Advent program. For more information call the Cathedral concert line at (404) 233-2145, ext. 820. The Cathedral is located at 2699 Peachtree Road, NE, Atlanta. Ample parking is available in the church parking deck on Peachtree Way.