Christmases: White and Blue

Consider attending the following Liturgy. happening on the Evening of the Winter Solstice

Service of the Longest Night with Holy Communion –
Wednesday, December 21, 6 PM in Saint Clare Chapel

Ever had a blue Christmas? Certainly, this sacred season comes with expressions of joy. We gather with deep hope, contemplating the birth of the Christ child. It is also true that some years we feel blue at Christmas. Sadness may be tied to a specific loss, or it might be a general feeling of sorrow, loneliness, or alienation.

The Christmas holidays always spell less sunlight and more stress. This service acknowledges the range of emotions for people and emphasizes awareness that we are embraced within the compassionate love of God, held in support of one another. Come light a candle during the Prayers of the People: to honor a loved one, acknowledge grief, lay hold of courage, or for the love we give and receive. Light a candle for your special reason and find yourself within the loving, healing embrace of Christ.

In our minds, we can replay Elvis singing,

You'll be doin' all right with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas

It is a song of loss, and the pain of loss can change the nature of a day observed in common. Some people are feeling joyful and triumphant others are feeling the bleak mid-winter in their hearts. Let us claim together, that whatever our senses and moods this year, the God of peace, the healing Savior, holds us close. Christ understands. It is of this knowing Christ that we sing in the hymn, Once in royal David’s City (verse four):

For he is our lifelong pattern; daily when on earth he grew,
he was tempted, scorned, rejected, tears and smiles like us he knew.
Thus he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.