Blue Christmas

Music Video Prelude

Part One: Preparation

Call to Worship:

Leader: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

People:  The Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth, and we have seen his glory.

Leader:  In him was life, and that life was the light of all.

People:  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to extinguish it.

Welcome: Pastor Joe

Welcome to this “Longest Night/Blue Christmas” service. “The name comes from the season  - during this season in December, we experience the shortest day and the longest night of the year. But the name also applies to the feeling that a number of us have about this season. It is the “long dark night of the soul,” “the winter of our discontent,” in which memories of past experiences and the pain of present experiences can become overwhelming.

For some, Christmas Day is the most difficult. For others, Christmas Eve, or New Year’s Eve, or the beginning of another lonely New Year. For me, this day, December 21st brings feelings of great sorrow. See it was 5 years ago on this day when I officiated the funeral for my nephew, Waylon, who was just an infant.

In this service, we will have some singing appropriate to the season, recognizing that this is not necessarily a season of joy. We will invite you to meditate on the pain and anguish you may bring, and to offer your pain to the Christ child. And we trust that you will find hope and comfort in knowing that you are not alone.

Paul says to the Ephesians that we are to “bear one another’s burdens” and by doing so we will fulfill the law of love.

Let us begin our time together this evening with an invitation to Come to our Savior…

Music: O Come All You Unfaithful

Prayer of Confession:

Father, we come to you in this Christmas season, with the pain that has grown within us. As the nights have been growing longer, so has the darkness that has wrapped itself around our hearts. In this season of our longest nights, we offer to you the pain in our hearts, the traumas that some of us cannot put into words. God, we come to you as those who have been abused. We have been hurt, physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

Lord we come to you broken. In need of you peace. Your truth. Your love. Your joy. Your presence.

God, we are grieving over what might have been. A death or a loss has changed this day. Once it was a special day for us too. But someone has died. Someone has left us. Someone has moved away. We have lost a job. We have lost a dream, a goal, a cause. We find ourselves adrift, alone, lost in a terrifying new world. This season reminds us of all that used to be, and cannot be any more. The memories of what was, the fears of what may be, stifle us. All around us we hear the sounds of celebration. But some of us have nothing we can give, and some of us have no one to give anything to. This is our longest night, Lord. Please be near us tonight. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:1-2,9,11- Elizabeth Gerhart

Isaiah 40:1–2 NIV

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:9 NIV

9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

Isaiah 40:11 NIV

11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 121 Bailey Gerhart

Psalm 121 NIV

A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Lighting of the Advent Wreath.

Tonight we recognize God’s presence here among us. He came in the midst of darkness.

Music Video: Labor of Love

Part Two: Ministry Through the Word

It is during this time when we will take some time to allow the Word of God to minister to each of us. Your response to each reading will be an invitation to light a candle. I will then offer a prayer over each of you for each area of need.

LONELINESS:

Matthew 22:1–10 NIV

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Reading: Matthew 22:1-10 (the Wedding Feast, in which all the outsiders were gathered in) Comment: This story offers hope for those who have no one to invite them in. It reminds us that in God’s divine order, no one is excluded; all are invited. Invitation: Would one of you, perhaps someone who finds this reading relevant to your own situation, come forward to light a candle? Prayer after lighting candle: Lord our God, may your fellowship be available to all, including those who feel excluded. Amen.

DEPRESSION/ SUICIDAL:

1 Kings 19:1–5 NIV

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

1 Kings 19:8–15a NIV

8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-5 8-15a (Elijah flees for his life, alone, to the mountain.) Comment: Sometimes it is only in isolation that we can hear the still small voice through which God speaks to us. Invitation to light candle: Prayer after lighting candle: Spirit of God, calm the turmoil in our souls so that we can hear your still small voice. Amen.

WEARY & BURDENED

Matthew 11:28–29 NIV

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Reading: Matthew 11:28-29 (Weary and burdened  receive rest) Comment: When burdens get piled on top of other burdens, the load can crush us. In his promise, Jesus offers us help to carry our burdens and responsibilities. Invitation to light candle: Prayer after lighting candle: Friend Jesus, we don't ask you to shoulder our burdens for us--just help us carry a corner of them, and we can carry on. Amen.

ABANDONMENT:

Psalm 22:1–11 NIV

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” 9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. 10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

Reading: Psalm 22:1-11 (My God, my God...) Comment: Even Jesus knew the feeling of being abandoned by God, the God whom he had believed in, and of being left alone in his darkness. Invitation to light candle: Prayer after lighting candle: Spirit of God, shine like this candle in the darkness, lighting the way for all who feel abandoned, forsaken, and forgotten. Amen.

WEEPING/MOURNING:

Luke 6:17–23 NIV

17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. 20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

Reading: Luke 6:17-23 (The Beatitudes, Blessed are those who weep, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, etc.) Comment: This familiar passage reveals that Jesus was well aware of people's sorrows, yearnings, and suffering--and offered a promise of something different. Invitation to light candle: (Play Music Video (Scars in Heaven/Save a Place for Me) Prayer after lighting candle: Lord Jesus, like these candles, bring some warmth and light to those of us who mourn, who hunger and thirst, and those of us who weep. Amen.

Part Three: The Body of Christ

Invitation to participate:

I invite all who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior and who seek to follow in his way and to live in unity with one another, to come to this tale with reverence and with faith. Eat and drink for your strengthening, that you may grow in grace and be blessed, remembering that we, though many, are one body in Jesus Christ.

Consecration:

Lord God, we set before you this holy supper, following the command of Jesus, who, the night in which he was betrayed, took bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you.” And on the same night, in the same way, he took a cup, and raised it, and poured it out for his disciples to drink, saying, “Drink of this cup, all of you. This is the new covenant, in my blood poured our for you.” Leader and people: In union with each other and with our Lord Jesus Christ , who gave himself for us and for the world, and in communion with the whole church, we offer ourselves to you. Leader:  And now, as Jesus taught us, we pray:

All: Our father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name         Thy kingdom come         Thy will be done         on earth as it is in heaven.         Give us this day our daily bread         and forgive our trespasses         as we forgive those who trespass against us         and lead us not into temptation         but deliver us from evil.         for thine is the kingdom, and power, and the glory         for ever and ever. Amen.

The minister takes the bread and breaks it, saying The body of Christ, broken for you. The minister raises the cup, saying The blood of Christ, shed for you. Communion:

Bear One Another’s Burdens…serve communion at the Altar

Music: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day Benediction:

The life our Lord Jesus Christ, who lived and suffered and died for the sake of all suffering and hurting humans, yesterday, today, and tomorrow; the peace of God, which passes all understanding; and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit supporting and encouraging you, be with you through this season of the longest night.