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 decorations are everywhere we turn.
For so many, this is a time of hopeful anticipation.
But for many of us, especially those of us gathered here,
Christmas is a harsh reminder of life that once was.
So we gather not so much in hopeful anticipation,
but in the cloud of despair.
While so many are ready to sing Joy to the World,
we gather as those that mourn.
We gather now to carve out a time of quiet reflection.
We gather to shed tears if they come,
to hold hands if they are available,
and to know that we are not alone.
Whether this is the 1st Christmas without someone you love,
or if you seem to be hurting from loss for as long as you remember,
we gather to be reminded that it is okay to mourn, even at Christmas.
It may be the first or the umpteenth Christmas without a beloved family member who has died;
it may be a time that has always been difficult.
The constant refrain on radio and television, in shops and churches,
about the happiness of the season,
about getting together with family and friends,
reminds many people of what they have lost
or have never had.
The anguish of broken relationships,
the insecurity of unemployment, financial burdens,
the weariness of ill health, the pain of isolation…
All these can make us feel very alone
in the midst of the celebrating and spending.
This Longest Night Service is a way to acknowledge the pain that the Christmas season sometimes ignores and sometimes causes.
The emphasis on family, joy, giving, and good cheer
can be difficult for those of us who have experienced loss through death,
unemployment, relocation, or broken relationships.
This is a time & place where we can know we are not alone.
Tonight, as we approach the longest night of the year,
we feel the darkness growing deeper around us.
We gather to acknowledge our pain
and our need for encouragement
to live the days ahead of us.
We gather to be open to a glimpse of the light of Christ.
Pause and light the Christ candle.
This flicker of light will burn throughout the service,
symbolizing for us the light of Christ
that shines and cannot be overcome.
May the words and the candlelight,
the music and the silence of this service
open a channel in your heart
to the warmth of God’s love.
Photo: Longest Night service (Blue Christmas) at Salisbury United Reformed Church, Wiltshire, UK; taken by Ana Gobledale
