Bulletin – Blue Christmas / The Longest Night – Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Blue Christmas / Longest Night
Approach
Call to Worship
One: O God, come to our assistance. O Lord, hasten to help us. Drop down the dew from above, O heavens, and let the clouds rain justice. Let the earth’s womb be opened, and bring forth a Saviour.
Prayer of Approach
“O God, come to our assistance.” We have gathered here this evening because we long for your to come to us, to save us, to comfort us, to bring us peace. As we approach the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we grow in our awareness that we need you. We bring our grief, our pains, our disappointments, our fears and the chaos of our world, and we lay all that before you in this time of worship. As Jesus embodied your love for the world and became “God-with-us,” so now this night we pray that you would again, come, oh come, Emmanuel. Amen.
Music – “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lowly exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Welcome
This is the longest night of the year. For those for whom night-time means heightened loneliness or fear, this is the night most dreaded, the night when hope is most needed. We are surrounded in this season by the sounds and sights of joy—family gatherings, parties, and laughter. Some of it is real, some is forced, and some is a cover-up for various kinds of pain and disappointment.
Many of us are reminded, by the very nature of the Christmas season, of those who are absent from our family circles. I’m thinking especially of those who have died, whether recently or some time ago. I’m also thinking of those from whom we are separated under various circumstances.
Others are burdened by illness or disappointment or anxiety. Some are acutely aware of the chaos of our world. And so we have come together this evening seeking comfort and strength from each other and from God. You are welcome in this circle.
This evening we confess that we are profoundly in need of God’s mercy, so let us sing “Kyrie Eleison,” the Greek words meaning “Lord, have mercy.”
Music – “Kyrie Eleison”
Assurance of God’s Grace: 1 John 1:5-7a
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in God there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with God while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as God themself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,” and with God. Amen.
Lighting the Advent Wreath
One: We light the candle of Hope as we await the coming of Jesus, who is our source of hope.
All: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of hope, in our times of emptiness.
One: We light the candle of Peace, knowing that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
All: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of peace in our times of uncertainty.
One: We light the candle of Love, knowing that God is love revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
All: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of love in our times of loneliness.
One: We light the candle of Joy, knowing that our comfort and help come from God.
All: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of joy in our times of sadness.
One: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
All: The Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth.
One: In him was life, and that life was the light of all. We light the Christ Candle, knowing that Jesus is our hope, our peace, our joy and the source of love.
Lighting of Memory Candles
One: We light four candles tonight in honour of our loved ones. We light one for our grief, one for our courage, on for our memories, and one for our love.
One: This first candle represents our grief. We own the pain of losing loved ones, of dreams that go unfulfilled, of hopes that evaporate in despair.
One: This second candle represents our courage. It symbolizes the courage to confront our sorrow, to comfort each other, to share our feelings honestly and openly with each other, and to dare to hope in the midst of pain.
One: This third candle represents our memories. For the times we laughed together, cried together, were angry with each other or overjoyed with each other. We light this candle for the memories of caring and joy we shared together.
One: This fourth candle represents our love. The love we have given, and the love we have received. The love that has gone unacknowledged and unfelt, and the love that has been shared in times of joy and sorrow.
One: We will now light the votive candles which represent your burdens, griefs, sorrows, all those things that make Christmas a “blue” time for you. All who wish, may come forward to light a candle in memory of someone, in prayer, or as a sign of hope—it is better to light a candle than to exist in the darkness.
Solo – “Longing for Light”
The Word
We listen to these voices from scripture
Scripture Reading: Psalm 42:3
Cried the Psalmist, “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Scripture Reading: Psalm 42:5-6a
Through his tears he said, Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again–my Savior and my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you…
Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:17-18
Cried Jeremiah, Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:21-24
Through his tears he said, Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!
Scripture Reading: Psalm 22:1
Jesus from the cross when darkness came over the land cried out,
Scripture Reading: Mark 15:33-35
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Scripture Reading: John 14:27-28a
To his friends soon to be frightened and full of tears, he said, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again.”
Scripture Reading: John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:1-4
And in the end says the book of Revelation, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!
Music – “Jesus, Be the Centre”
Reflection
Hymn – “Tis Winter Now”
‘Tis winter now; the fallen snow
Has left the heav’ns all coldly clear;
Through leafless boughs the sharp winds blow,
And all the earth lies dead and dread.
And yet God’s love is not withdrawn;
God’s life within the keen air breathes;
God’s beauty paints the crimson dawn,
And clothes each branch with glittering wreaths.
And though abroad the sharp winds blow,
And skies are chill, and frosts are keen,
Home closer draws her circle now,
And warmer glows her light within.
O God, you give the winter’s cold,
As well as summer’s joyous rays,
You warmly in your love enfold,
And keep us through life’s wintry days.
The Response
Prayers
One: Let us pray: God of wisdom, we come to you this Christmas Season tired, in turmoil, and in pain. As the nights have grown longer, so has darkness grown and wrapped itself around our hearts. In this season of longest night, we ask your healing blessings upon all that we carry in our hearts, sorrow we fear may never end, wounds we cannot even put into words.
One: God of mercy and compassion, there are those among us who are grieving over what might have been. Death or loss or terrible hurt has changed our experience of Christmas. We remember that once it was a special day for us, too, but someone or something previous has gone away from us in this life. We have lost a beloved, a job, a goal, a cause, a dream. We find ourselves adrift and alone. We are weary from the journey, and we have found no room at the inn. We come to you seeking rest, and peace, and shelter from the storm.
One: God of grace, in the spirit of the season, grant us all that we need to comfort us as we journey through this Christmas season. We as that you shelter and sustain all those of us, both here and throughout the world, who wander or want or weep or are heavy laden, that we may be lifted up in courage and journey on in Thy peace.
One: God of love, in this Christmas Season we embrace and offer up to you all that used to be which is now lost to us, and cannot be again. With celebration all around us, memories of what was, and fears of what may be, weight heavy on our hearts. Please hold us close in your embrace, be near to us this night, until the light returns and morning comes.
One: Keep watch, dear God, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give the gift your presence with all this night. Tend the sick, God; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for thy love’s sake. Amen.
Hymn – “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”
It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold,
“Peace on the earth, good will to all, from heaven’s all-gracious King!”
The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing.
For, lo! The days are hastening on, by prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold,
When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendours fling,
And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.
Benediction
Go in peace, the peace which this world cannot give, knowing that the God whose love created this world, sent Jesus into the same world to be our friend, companion, and God with us. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out!
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome. Stay with us, Lord, for it is evening, and the day is almost over. Let your light scatter the darkness and let all people live in the light of your love. Amen.
Response
Hope shines as the solitary star,
Faith is the inner light.
You and I together mirror the Light of Lights,
And illumine the pathway home.
