Blue Christmas

A quiet service for those suffering grief and loss in all its forms and who find Christmas a difficult season.

What is a Blue Christmas service? Blue Christmas service is “blue” because for many of us, the holiday season is not “the most wonderful time of the year.” Instead, it’s a time when we feel sad or blue. The days grow shorter, the nights longer. The relentless pressures of the season weigh us down. Some of us struggle with the painful memories of previous holidays.

Others face new and unwelcome challenges, especially as our city and society continue to navigate the complexities of a post-pandemic and globalized world: many of our patterns and expectations have been overturned, and jobs, homes, relationships, and lives can look dramatically different to what we expected.

This service will give us an opportunity to put words to the feelings that accompany hard times—the pain, loneliness, grief, sadness, and anxiety that fly in the face of the messages the popular culture sends us. We will offer those feelings to God by praying together, hearing God’s word as revealed in Holy Scripture, singing, and lighting candles.

May you find hope and comfort in knowing that you are not alone. Emmanuel—God with us—shines light into our darkness, stands with us in our sorrows, and reminds us that even the longest night does not last forever.

— Michael James Perry