Blue Christmas

Christmas is a time of joy for many but it can also be a time of sorrow when we have an empty chair at the table.  I pray for those who are experiencing their "first" Christmas without their loved ones and for those still hurting.  Pastor Barry’s Blue Christmas service is a service of reflection and remembrance of healing and hope.

The Blue Christmas Service honors the empty chair and memories of  loved ones we have lost by lighting four candles.  The first candle is lit for our love for the loved ones we have lost.  They were God’s gift to us and we are thankful for our time together.  The second candle reminds us that God gave us His greatest gift, His Son, Jesus Christ and He gave us the loved ones we lost.  This candle represents our memory of past holidays and the  traditions that we created with our loved ones and their uniqueness that made the holidays special.  The third candle represents the grief we are experiencing.  As we believe our loved ones are in God’s presence we ask God to grant us the “courage to persevere in the work of grieving so that we can confront our sorrow and move through the pain to the other side of grief.”  The fourth candle lit signifies our hope for the future.  As Christians, we have hope.  We have Jesus in our hearts and He conquered death and the grave.  We have hope because God holds each of us.  

I remember wanting to cancel those first holidays after my dad died because it hurt so bad.  As I worked through my grief, I realized that Christmas is also for those of us who mourn and grieve because Jesus conquered the very things that create such sorrow in our hearts. The blood and death that surrounded the birth of Jesus can make His light even brighter to those who are grieving. He came to offer us forgiveness and the hope of eternal life.  

May you cling to God during this time.  Because of God’s promise, we can sing, “Because He lives, we can face tomorrow!”