The Christmas season has descended upon Taylor’s campus, and all has been calm; all has been bright… except during the week leading up to Silent Night. Anticipation built inside the doors of the Kesler Student Activities Center as the days before the event disappeared into the winter air.
Taylor students, as they do with all traditions, take the Friday Silent Night basketball game very seriously each year. Students construct tents, wing mates and floormates rally, and by Monday, students form lines at the east and west entrances to Odle Arena. The maze of sleeping bags and mattresses mark the order by which the costumed students enter the gym.
Each student is expected to play a part in holding their floor or wing’s spot in line all week—that is, until Candles and Carols chapel on Friday at 10 am.
Candles and Carols is Taylor’s oldest-standing tradition, preceding Taylathon by five years, Airband by 30 years, and Silent Night by 43 years.
Debuted in 1954 as the “Candlelight Concert,” this last chapel service of the fall semester has become one of Taylor’s most beloved traditions—and one of the few reasons one should abandon their spot in the Silent Night line.
Throughout December, each chapel service brings the lighting of the Advent candles, a liturgical tradition that joins churches worldwide in preparing for the coming of the Savior.
The final chapel, Candles and Carols, is a special time for faculty, staff, and the student body to come together in reverence and expectancy, celebrating the birth of Christ with candles and Christmas hymns.
As the first candles are lit and the light is shared down the rows, the entire Rediger Chapel Auditorium is illuminated: a striking visual representation of Taylor’s commitment to equipping and sending out students filled with the joy of the incarnation.
This year, Candles and Carols was held on December 5, 2025.
The morning opened with “Noel,” the lighting of the fifth advent candle by the Lindsay family, Christmas hymns, and a devotional given by Reverend Greg Dyson encouraging students to “make room for Christ.”
Like the Silent Night basketball game itself, this chapel draws a packed house and invites students to join in a timeless rendition of “Silent Night.”
Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Singing together, with candles in the morning and in costumes that evening, is more than a tradition. It’s a communal realignment with what is most important—the hallmarks of our faith manifesting in true, hopeful worship.
