Last night I spoke to 3,200 people in Durham Cathedral at the Durham University CU Carol Service. The doors opened 45 minutes before the service started and the nave was filled up within 5 minutes. By about 7.00pm, half an hour before the service began, the only seats available were in side aisles, chapels, in the choir, where many of students sat with the outstanding Durham Choral Society, and then the entire area around the shrine of St Cuthbert, where students sat on the floor. All of these people benefitted from 7 TV relay screens that were set up around the Cathedral. I spoke three times during the Carol Service. The first time I ascended the rather imposing pulpit stairs, I noticed about 30 students sitting on the freezing medieval stone floor below me. I’m pleased to say that the whole event went really well, and it was a huge privilege to seek to contextualize the Christmas story for so many hundreds of people who do not normally go to church. I’ve already had encouraging emails from students who googled me during the service and then direct messaged me from this website.
Before the service I had a great time praying in the Chapter House and some tremendous fellowship with the Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, Dean of Durham. I have a family connection with him. When he was a boy at University College School in Hampstead, he was taught Latin by my father Colin Holloway, something he had worked out just by virtue of my surname and the fact that I look so much like my Dad. Michael began the Carol Service by telling all 3,200 gathered that he owed all his Latin knowledge the visiting speaker’s father!
I want to personally thank all our friends who told us that you’d be praying for me ahead of this great event, which is one of the largest Carol Services in Europe. For anyone who is interested there are photos on my facebook and twitter. Ben Thomas, who runs media for the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, and who was with us at Christ Church on Sunday at the morning service, was also at Durham Cathedral and he video-d the service and recorded interviews with students and with me afterwards. So if you want to find out more about the huge numbers of students attending Carol Services this Christmas keep an eye on the uccf website.