Blue Advent

A Reflection on Blue Christmas with Practical Suggestions

Christmas is not the “season to be jolly” for many people. Joy to the world (to say nothing of bedecked halls and partridges in the orchard) is not part of everyone’s idea of how to commemorate Christ’s birth. After a year of COVID-19, the discovery of over a thousand unmarked graves of Indigenous children at Canadian residential schools, political meltdown, mass shootings, broken marriages, public figures who can’t seem to find a way to tell the truth, and an opioid crisis, it is with good reason that many communities hold Blue Christmas or Longest Night services.

Except during the twelve days of Christmas (only one of which most of us observe), what we think of the Christmas season perhaps ought to be much more blue than green, red, and white. After all, Christmas is preceded in the Christian liturgical calendar by Advent: forty days of preparation for the coming of a king—days to be marked by repentance, a healthy introspection, and a serious look at our world’s situation.

For those of us not experiencing major problems or tragedies, having a singular Blue Christmas service doesn’t seem to do enough to show our solidarity with those who are suffering. Lament and confession, as well as hope and longing, should be the norm during Advent. Should we thus have four Sundays of Blue and then one of Christmas? Maybe so. Because Advent is preceded by Christ the King Sunday, the long distance between the “now”and the “not yet” ought to naturally bring with it a look at what’s wrong in our lives—personally, communally, and globally.

If you do plan a special Blue Christmas service, I suggest tailoring one of the various liturgies already available, including those from Reformed Worship (search “Blue Christmas” and “Longest Night” at ReformedWorship.org), to your own congregational setting, perhaps keeping your community’s pastoral needs at the forefront. Or consider one or more of the following collections of suggested songs, psalms, and readings that could be adapted to fit within an established order of worship or liturgy, blue or not.

Collection 1

If part of the service is about the “blue” year in international relations or politics, or about failed leadership in the church.

Collection 2

For those who are plagued by illnesses.

Collection 3

For a general introduction to laments, pain, and sorrow.

Curt Gesch, with his wife Betsey plan and participate in Zoom worship services at which everyone who attends is given opportunity to lead in the readings, prayers, and benedictions, and all craft the “sermons” through sharing comments, questions, and experiences.

Reformed Worship 141 © September 2021, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Used by permission.