Christmas by Candlelight to be Held November 27 at MOC
MOUNT OLIVE – University of Mount Olive will host the fourth annual Christmas by Candlelight event on November 27th. Pre-event activities begin at 5:00 PM on the University of Mount Olive campus located on 634 Henderson Street. These activities will include an ice skating rink, picture snow globe and carriage ride. Luminaries will be placed throughout the campus grounds in honor and in memory of loved ones with the funds raised going to the Free Will Baptist Children’s Home. President and Mrs. Philip P. Kerstetter will light the official college Christmas tree at 6:50 PM.
A Christ-centered service will begin at 7:30 PM in the Mount Olive Assembly Hall located on 207 Wooten Street. The service will be patterned after the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, a traditional English evening service which began in Cambridge in 1918, and will include Scripture lessons and tracing salvation history. Each reading will be followed by a carol. Music for the service will be provided by the University of Mount Olive Music Department and other local choirs including The Bridge Choir, Continental Society Children’s Chorus of Goldsboro, and Providence United Methodist Church Choir.
Coordinator of the event the Reverend Carla Williamson, campus chaplain, said, “It is going to be a wonderful night and a great start to the Advent season. As we are preparing for our Christmas by Candlelight program we are reminded of our Christian values which serve as the very foundation of our College. We are also reminded that at the foundation of our Christian beliefs is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. With all of that in mind and with the wonderful history of working together with our community, we prepare this evening as a gift to the community, a way that University of Mount Olive can give back to those who mean so much to us.”
University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.