This litany is for a Longest Night or Blue Christmas service. It includes lighting the Christ Candle and the four Advent candles, one by one. The Christ Candle, the central candle, is lit at the opening of the service. Supplies: – votive candles (battery or lit with a match) – manger (empty or with […]
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Adapted by Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson from a Longest Night Service by Loren Richmond. The Advent season is one of wonder. For so many, Advent is a time of hopeful anticipation. It is a season of promise. The longer nights and the gray clouds seem to provide the perfect background for the lights and the tinsel. The […]
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Note: this piece may be attached to a copyright; apologies if this is the case. We are still the people walking. We are still people in the dark, and the darkness looms large around us, beset as we are by fear, anxiety, brutality, violence, loss — a dozen alienations that we cannot manage. We are […]
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Appropriate for a Blue Christmas or Longest Night service acknowledging the challenges many people face during the ‘holiday’ season. God, you are not distant from us; you come to us in vulnerability, you offer yourself as a gift of love. God of love, hear our prayer. This night we pray for all who mourn. All […]
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Appropriate for a Blue Christmas or Longest Night service, acknowledging the challenges often faced during the dark seasons of the year. On this longest night of the year, we gather to worship you, our Creator. The prophets tell of a light to the nations; a dawn from on high breaking upon us. The poets speak […]
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God of all seasons and senses, grant us the sense of your timing to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the seasons. In this season of short days and long nights, of grey and white and cold, teach us the lessons of endings; children growing, friends leaving, loved ones dying, grieving over, […]
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‘Do not be afraid’ — words of the angels Prayers of Intercession This was originally written for a worship service marking the opening of a week-long Angel Festival. It might be used during Advent, particularly at a Blue Christmas or Longest Night service. The word ‘angel’ is not always popular, or sometimes over-popular! How can […]
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This could be read by numerous readers (perhaps passing it around a circle) or in the traditional one/many responsive reading style. It might be used for a nightime reading with a child or with a group out under the summer stars. One: Holy darkness, hold us. Many: Gentle darkness, soothe us. One: Peaceful darkness, heal […]
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This has been a difficult season for many of us. Illness… unemployment… separation from loved ones… broken relationships… unmet hopes and expectations… events that have divided our homes, families, communities and country… loneliness and isolation… the death of a friend or family member… the loss of a pregnancy… war in our world… fear for our […]
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A Christmas Carol for today Tune: Cranham – original words: Christina Rossetti Photo by Carol Kreis, USA In this bleak pandemic, lonely and afraid City streets are empty, gatherings delayed Snow has fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, Oh this bleak pandemic, how long will it stay? Once there was a stable, in a […]
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The days are short. The nights are long. Your universe mirrors the reality of our hearts, Revealing your gracious spirit that Mourns with us in grief, Cries with us in sorrow, Sits with us in despair. You are not a distant God, removed from human pain, But a faithful companion Closer to us than our […]
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A reflection on Dame Julian of Norwich’s text from Revelations of Divine Love: ‘All shall be well. You shall see yourself that all things shall be well. That which is impossible for you is not impossible for me. I shall keep my word in all things and I shall make all things well.’ ‘All shall […]
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Words to still the soul . . . used perhaps as one enters a worship space, or prepares to. Now, for this space, I put them all aside, the awesome things for which no words will come. Such grief must go where only God is guide. Our lovely plane darkens. Nightmares ride. The sunlit waters […]
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Mary’s Lament – a reflection originally written for a Good Friday service. This dramatic monologue revealing Mary’s anguish and distress has been read effectively at a Blue Christmas service, also. 2 Readers: Mary, mother of Jesus, and a Storyteller (narrator) Ready-to-print downloads: PDF Mary’s Lament dramatic reading WORD Mary’s Lament dramatic reading Life often overwhelms […]
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Our God, we gather together in the bleak midwinter. Those who have much to thank you for, who rejoice in your goodness, and those who look out on a landscape of broken dreams and hardly dare to hope for Good News. Those whose hearts and homes are full of Christmas joy, and those whose Christmas […]
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How easy it is to get caught up in the busy-ness, the doing, the decorating, the cooking, the sending, the buying, the eating of Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong, I love each of these parts of Christmas – setting up the Christmas tree and hanging decorations, the home-made Christmas cookies and egg nog, writing […]
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Compiled from various resources. Click here for a Blue Christmas service pdf download. This complete one-hour service is ready to print and use. It is a reflective service created for a December afternoon or evening. 16 readers (or double-up if fewer readers are available) Preparation and set-up: The worship space is important. See suggestions on […]
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For a Longest Night (21 December) or Blue Christmas service. God is with us in our suffering, loving us, walking with us, comforting us. I do not believe God is the cause or author of such suffering, I do not believe God “allows” bad things to happen. I can’t imagine why God would “allow” us […]
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God, you are not distant from us You came to us in vulnerability You offered yourself as a gift of love. We pray today for those who are in the midst of darkness The darkness of poverty The darkness of loneliness The darkness of grief The darkness of despair Wherever shadows threaten to overwhelm Wherever […]
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