Lessons & Carols offers a moving experience that helps everyone prepare for Christmas by combining scripture, reflection and beautiful music. This seasonal event interweaves Advent readings (“lessons”) with musical pieces—hymns, anthems, carols—performed by the St. Thomas choir and guest musicians, creating a prayerful and immersive experience.

As Advent unfolds, Lessons & Carols becomes as a spiritual pause: it draws attention away from the busyness of the season and back to the promise of Christ’s coming. Readings guide hearts toward hope, expectation and the deeper meaning of the Incarnation, while the music offers space to meditate on God’s Word through song. The interplay between Scripture and melody helps keep the focus of Advent central—to prepare, to anticipate and worship.

Community is found at Lessons & Carols. The event gathers souls from across the parish—regulars at weekly masses and curious newcomers—in a shared moment of reverence and wonder. Singing together, listening to the readings and reflecting side by side fosters unity, belonging and a sense of shared faith journey. In the soft glow of candles, voices rising in harmony, the parish experiences unity in worship.

For someone encountering Lessons & Carols for the first time, it is a welcome introduction to the heart of St. Thomas’s liturgical and music experience. The event showcases not just excellent music, but also the parish’s commitment to beauty, scripture and contemplative worship. It’s a reminder that worship is not only heard, but felt, sung, and lived together.

Those who attend are invited into a deeper Advent experience—one of listening, anticipating, and joining with neighbors in lifting praise as Christmas draws near.