News

St.James's Advent Service of Lessons and Carols happens this weekend

The St. James Choir will sing carols and anthems of the Advent season, and they will be joined by instrumentalists on trumpet and flute as well as bagpipes and drums.

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 29, 2025

The soul-stirring sounds of the St. James Choir and Montreat Scottish Pipes and Drums will once again fill the nave at St. James Episcopal Church, 766 N. Main St., for the annual Advent Service of Lessons and Carols, one of the parish’s signature choral services that draws attendees from across the area. The service will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29 and Sunday, Nov. 30 at 5:00 p.m., with doors opening at 4.

Once again this year, local officials representing areas of community life will read lessons at the Sunday service, following the earliest traditions of the service that originated in Cambridge, England, more than a century ago.

“This service is one of extraordinary beauty and transcendence, and it’s a real gift to the community offered by our choir and music director Brad Gee,” said the Rev. David Henson, rector of the parish. “By inviting leaders to participate in this extraordinary service, we hope to share this gift more broadly and for it to be a true celebration of the goodness of our community here in Hendersonville. We pray this symbolic joining of hands can serve as a shining example of unity in our deeply divided world.”

The St. James Choir will sing carols and anthems of the Advent season, and they will be joined by instrumentalists on trumpet and flute as well as bagpipes and drums.

“There is something special about this service, each and every year,” Gee said. “Our beautiful neo-Gothic church is decorated with greens, candles twinkle in the widows and the church fills up and the beautiful sound of choral music moves people deeply, some even to tears.”