"Blue" Christmas Service resources?

[DCharlton]

I have conducted these Blue Christmas services at two congregations I have served. We held the services in the mid to late afternoon on the third or fourth Sunday of Advent. The gatherings are intimate and have been very meaningful.

I know some of you will not like the name of the page this is from -  but it is a nice framework for a Blue Christmas worship. https://youngclergywomen.org/blue-christmas-service-when-christmas-hurts/

I know it is hypocritical, but I don’t think I am able to conduct a Blue Christmas service myself this year as I am still dealing with my own grief. I might attend such a service but don’t feel capable of being the leader this time. I would encourage any pastor to offer this worship opportunity.

Thank you for thinking of the hurting folks at this time of the year.

Donna

Thank you, Donna.

[Richard Johnson]

I have conducted these Blue Christmas services at two congregations I have served. We held the services in the mid to late afternoon on the third or fourth Sunday of Advent. The gatherings are intimate and have been very meaningful.

I know some of you will not like the name of the page this is from -  but it is a nice framework for a Blue Christmas worship. https://youngclergywomen.org/blue-christmas-service-when-christmas-hurts/

I know it is hypocritical, but I don’t think I am able to conduct a Blue Christmas service myself this year as I am still dealing with my own grief. I might attend such a service but don’t feel capable of being the leader this time. I would encourage any pastor to offer this worship opportunity.

Thank you for thinking of the hurting folks at this time of the year.

Donna

Looks like a lovely and well thought-out service.

[Charles Austin]

Here’s another aspect to “blue Christmas.”
This is the second holiday season since beloved spouse and I  moved to Minneapolis. This is the time when we feel very deeply the “loss” of our previous friends and the activities that shaped our holidays for 39 years.
There are people around us, of course, and we have many activities, but they are not the ones we previously knew and loved so much.
I had not even thought about the emotional hold that those people and holiday time held on me. Now I know And beloved spouse feels it even more strongly.
In life, change is inevitable, of course, but it sometimes it comes with a certain amount of pain. You might think of people in your congregation who are “new to the neighborhood,” or have otherwise been separated, perhaps not by death but by other conditions, from people and places and activities they loved.

[John_Hannah]

Not about "Blue Christmas"--Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in ALPB Forum Online! May you find joy in all your gifts from God, especially in your families!

Peace, JOHN   

[J. Thomas Shelley]

In life, change is inevitable, of course, but it sometimes it comes with a certain amount of pain. You might think of people in your congregation who are “new to the neighborhood,” or have otherwise been separated, perhaps not by death but by other conditions, from people and places and activities they loved.

Years ago I remember reading an article--or maybe it was a blurb for a continuing ed workshop or minicourse--on "the little deaths", including but not limited to:

Divorce
Becoming "empty nesters"
Termination
Incarceration
Relocation
Retirement
Declining health

and the accumulation of a long list of "I used to..."