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Please read this article closely. There are many puns and there are TWO (2) possible ways to earn a homemade fruitcake sent to you ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!!

As it is our care and delight to await the coming of the PDF of the King's College service leaflet for this year's Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols, we must in heart and mind go to this webpage and refresh it endlessly until the document we seek is found.

OFFER OF FREE BAKED GOOD: If you find the 2014 service leaflet before I do I will send you a homemade fruitcake. You may email me at dsinden@gmail.com, tweet me @sinden, or even call me if you can figure out how. This offer is valid to the person who contacts me first, regardless of medium.

In the mean-time, I have some half-baked predictions (not like the fruitcake mentioned above, which will be fully-baked and delicious).

• The first carol will be "Once in Royal David's city" - this will not surprise anyone.
• Rutter's "What sweeter music" seems quite overdue - In fact, last year's service was noticeably Rudderless Rutterless. Look for it as the Invitatory Carol after the Bidding Prayer. Or look for something else by Rutter somewhere else.
• We haven't heard the Warlock "Adam lay ybounden" in a long while - not since 2006. So I would put good money on this -- but! There was no "Adam lay" setting at all last year, which was quite unusual. The carol text had been a staple of the service since at least 1997 (probably well before that, but further research is required*) A robust rendition of the Ord may be in ORDer to restore the balance. Oh dear, here we go with the puns.
• The second carol after the Third Lesson will be "God rest ye merry, gentlemen". - You can count on it. Let nothing you dismay.
• Cleobury will put down his own "Joys Seven" after the Fifth Lesson - I mean, if I keep predicting this it has to happen, right?
• "While shepherds watched their flocks by night" will be the second carol sung after the Seventh Lesson. Money in the bank. The Old Bank of Winchester. (Hymn tune joke - har har har)

I have no clues about the commissioned carol this year, so I'm not going to hazard a guess.

A final note or two or three (so, a chord, really) about another fruitcake offer: If you can provide me with an order of service prior to 1997 so I can fill in more boxes on my nifty spreadsheet, I will also bake and send you a delicious fruitcake ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. One homemade fruitcake per person, please. Don't be greedy. They don't keep well you know.

That is all. Happy Advent. Happy refreshing. Happy baking.

*I am eagerly awaiting a fully funded sabbatical to visit King's College and really research these and other questions. My sabbatical year should be 2016/17ish. Ahem, vestry in the parish where I currently serve...

Labels: Christmas, Cleobury, food and drink, hymns, John Rutter, King's College (Cambridge), Ord, Warlock