Together We Sing, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

Eden Foundation together with the Killarney Ministerial hosted a Christmas concert event in the Shamrock Centre in Killarney, Manitoba on Sunday evening December 9^th featuring the Winkler Community Men’s Choir.   This was a first ever event for both the Eden Foundation and the choir. 

For the choir, this was an opportunity to present their Christmas concert to an audience that has not seen or heard choral music in a long time.  For the Eden Foundation this was a fund-raising opportunity but more importantly, it was an opportunity to present a message of hope and healing through the lessons and carols as well as through a brief presentation as to the mission that the entire Eden organization holds in common; that being “People of faith actively engaged in sharing Christ’s hope and healing where mental health needs are found.”.   For the Killarney ministerial, this was another collaborative effort that they together participated in helping to organize. 

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is an old tradition that tells the Christmas story through a series of nine Scripture readings but instead of beginning those readings in Luke with the story of Christ’s birth, it begins in Genesis then flows through Isaiah, then into the Gospel readings.  Interspersed between the readings are the choral selections that embellish and support those readings.

Although choral singing has a history in the Killarney area, it hasn’t seen been a common practice for many years now, so this event was something of a treat for the approximately 275 people who came to listen.  The hope was expressed that this choir might return again.

After having presented the story of Eden Health Care Services, people approached representatives of Eden to share their stories of how mental health issues have affected them and how the Eden organization had a positive impact on their recovery.

The positive benefits to those who came to listen, to those who were part of the choir, to the Killarney faith community and to the Eden organization would seem to indicate that there may be a future opportunity to serve.