Christmas is a joyful season for many of us. Churches of all kinds can enter into this spirit with celebrations and carols and pageants and plays.
For others Christmas can be a time of sadness and despair.
There are times in everyone’s life when the Christmas season involves coping with the pain of broken relationships, the insecurity of unemployment, the weariness of ill health, the pain of isolation, or the first Christmas without a much-loved family member or friend. In other words – Christmas can feel rather ‘blue’.
By offering a service of ‘Blue Christmas’ we seek to provide a space which is still genuinely a Christmas celebration, but without being ‘overdone’. The readings focus on the messiness of life and God’s promise to be with us in that messiness. There is time for reflection and ritual and prayer and song, and the service aims to remind us that we are not alone. God is present for those who struggle and grieve. God’s light in Jesus Christ still shines in the darkness.
Whatever you are carrying on your hearts this year - you are welcome to join us at 7PM on Wednesday 22 December as we gather together for 'Blue Christmas'.
Fr Brett