The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at La-Grange College has become a holiday tradition, something the school considers a Christmas gift to the community.

This year’s service at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Callaway Auditorium will have a particular poignancy to it. It is the last one for President Stuart Gulley, who is leaving at the end of the academic year to become headmaster of Woodward Academy in Atlanta.

Debbie Ogle, choral director at the college, credits Gulley with coming up with the idea for the service in the first place.

“Several years ago, there was an initial attempt to do something like Lessons and Carols, but it just didn’t get any traction,” she said. “A little later, he and I talked and he told me his vision of a service similar to something that he had experienced at Emory that had been very meaningful to him. I had some ideas about the English service that I loved, and after our conversation, I told him I thought I could come up with something that he’d like.”

She said Gulley gave her free rein to design and implement the program.

“What evolved was a service that focused on the miracle of the birth of our Savior,” Ogle said. “We wanted to tell the story in word and song of what happened more than 2,000 years ago in that little town of Bethlehem.”

The program has never steered away from the concept, she said.

“The music changes, the scripture readers change, but the message is always the same: God’s grace was manifested that night in the most miraculous way,” she said.

Gulley said he has been pleased with what the program has become.

“Debbie Ogle has taken our Lessons and Carols program to heights I could have never imagined,” he said. “Each year I think it can never get any better, and, each year, Debbie, the choir and musicians miraculously make it even more majestic and moving. The event has become the highlight of my Christmas celebration, and I believe this is true for the many people from our community who attend.”

Ogle said this year’s service will be a little more serene than last year’s, but just as beautiful.

“Last year was a seminal moment, with new music by a young composer, Chris Owenby, and all its challenges, but clearly stunning,” she said. “This year we have music that is perhaps a little more familiar specifically, but just as heart-warming. We are going to sing his hymn, ‘Light in the Darkness,’ though.”

LaGrange College graduate John Dreher will return to sing “O Holy Night.” Also returning is harpist Dania Lane.

“Dania always adds so much, but she’s got a special section with our women’s chorale, doing some of Benjamin Britten’s pieces from his ‘Ceremony of Carols,’ ” Ogle said. “This is the first year for an all-women’s group in addition to our chamber singers and I’m so proud of their work.”

But Ogle said there is one number she is looking forward to the most.

“The last number for the chamber orchestra is ‘Stille Nacht (Silent Night)’ that we’ll play during the candle lighting,” she said. “It is the Mannheim Steamroller’s version that was recorded on their first Christmas album. It is just beautiful.”

Ogle said she never thinks of the program as a concert.

“It is a service that we share with our friends and neighbors, which is why we never charge admission. It’s our gift to share with all who come,” she said. “And, of course, it has become quite a tradition here in LaGrange. It’s another one of Stuart’s wonderful ideas come to fruition, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Gulley acknowledges this year’s program will have a special meaning for him.

“It will certainly be poignant for me this time, knowing this will be my last as president,” he said. “But I look forward to returning in the future as a member of the audience, taking pride in what Debbie and the other participants achieve.”

Debby Durrence can be reached at ddurrence@ lagrangenews.com of (706) 884-7311, Ext. 229.