Skip to main content

Free-Church Liturgy: Blue Christmas

What is a Blue Christmas Service?

Blue Christmas services are a growing trend in the Church. Also known as "Longest-Night," these services are intended for people who are not feeling particularly jolly as the Christmas Season approaches. Some services are targeted specifically at those who are mourning a death. The service I put together (from various sources across the internet, and some of my own ideas) is intended to be open to anyone who is mourning, whether it's a death or a broken relationship, lost job, etc. This can be an incredibly powerful service, with tons of opportunity to minister to people. 

What you need for this service

  • The leader book
    • This service is mostly read, so use this document in a binder to lead.
  • The booklet
    • Rather than using a projector, we used a booklet with all of the words in it. This allowed people to follow along without being forced to look up if they are not comfortable doing so.
  • A pianist
    • This service requires background music to be most effective. I created an outline for my pianist, here.
    • You will also need music for the Christmas Hymns in the liturgy. They are pretty common songs.
  • Candles
    • Four mourning candles--tall blue candles in a candelabra or advent wreath.
    • One Christ candle--a tall white candle at the center of your candelabra or advent wreath.
    • Tea candles--enough tea candles for every attendee to get one.
  • Volunteers
    • Have volunteers prepared who are comfortable and capable praying with and comforting people who need care during the service. 

Basic Structure of the Service

  • Opening Section
    • Here we read a poem, sing a carol, and read a psalm. The purpose here to set the tone and let everyone know we are going to stare our sorrow straight in the face.
  • Lighting the Candelabra
    • This gives people a chance to acknowledge the reason they are there--the grief that brings them to the service, and the hope that they can find in Jesus.
  • Homily
    • A short message that encourages people to give their burdens to Christ.
  • Lighting the Prayer Candles
    • Each participant is invited to light their tea candle on the Christ candle and leave it on the table as a sing of giving their burdens to Christ. Then we pray together as a congregation.
That's it. I hope this helps! If you have any questions or suggestions, leave them in the comments below. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choruses from the Rock (VI), By T.S. Eliot

[I know that I promised blog entries that I haven't delivered yet. I've got plenty of ideas in my head, it's just a matter of finding the time and the motivation at the same time. Anyway, I expect that I'll be ready to write relatively soon, but until then I thought I would tide you over with a section from T.S. Eliot's excellent poem, Choruses from "The Rock". Enjoy!] It is hard for those who have never known persecution, And who have never known a Christian, To believe these tales of Christian persecution. It is hard for those who live near a Bank To doubt the security of their money. It is hard for those who live near a Police Station To believe in the triumph of violence. Do you think that the Faith has conquered the World And that lions no longer need keepers? Do you need to be told that whatever has been, can still be? Do you need to be told that even such modest attainments As you boast of in the way of polite society Will hardly surv...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Massacre of the Innocents [By W.H. Auden]

[From For the Time Being,  by W.H. Auden] HEROD One needn’t be much of a psychologist to realize that if this rumor is not stamped out now, in a few years it is capable of diseasing the whole Empire, and one doesn’t have to be a prophet to predict the consequences if it should. Reason will be replaced by Revelation. Instead of Rational Law, objective truths perceptible to any who will undergo the necessary intellectual discipline, and the same for all, Knowledge will degenerate into a riot of subjective visions—feelings in the solar plexus induced by undernourishment, angelic images generated by fevers or drugs, dream warnings inspired by the sound of falling water. Whole cosmologies will be created out of some forgotten personal resentment, complete epics written in private languages, the daubs of school children ranked above the great masterpieces. Idealism will be replaced by Materialism. Priapus will only have to move to a good address and call himself E...
Post a Comment
Read more

Works of Love XI: Love Believes All Things

[From Part II Chapter II, " Love Believes All Things and Yet is Never Deceived "] “Love… believes all things.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:7 “ Love believes everything—and yet is never to be deceived. Amazing! To believe nothing in order to never be deceived—this seems to make sense. For how would a man ever be able to deceive someone who believes nothing! But to believe everything and thereby, as it were to throw oneself away, fair game for all deception and all deceivers, and yet precisely in this way to assure oneself infinitely against every deception: this is remarkable.” [1] When it comes to trusting people, we modern Americans tend to be very careful. We consider it an essential skill, knowing who and when to trust. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” That proverb teaches us that if I allow myself to be deceived because I trusted when I should have known better, it’s really my fault, not the deceiver’s. And we desperately don’t want to be deceived ...
2 comments
Read more