December 20, 2023

Dec 20

December 20, 2023 Livestream Worship Online Bulletin
Blue Christmas Service / Liturgy of the Longest Night

Welcome to our Blue Christmas service. We recognize that Christmas can be a very difficult time. Sometimes the world feels like the only options are to joyously love this holiday or be a Grinch. Christmas is about the incarnation of Christ, God coming into the world. It is for everyone, it is especially for the brokenhearted. Whether you are hurting, or feeling numb, or just looking for a place to connect, you are welcome here.

Prelude

Take this time to assess what you are feeling. God doesn’t want a façade of who we think we should be, God takes joy in who we really are.

Opening Prayer

Scripture Readings

Psalm 42

Isaiah 61:1-4 The Lord God’s spirit is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release for captives, and liberation for prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and a day of vindication for our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for Zion’s mourners, to give them a crown in place of ashes, oil of joy in place of mourning, a mantle of praise in place of discouragement. They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, planted by the Lord to glorify himself. They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore formerly deserted places; they will renew ruined cities, places deserted in generations past.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;

he saves those whose spirits are crushed.

Isaiah 51:1-3

Listen to me, you who look for righteousness, you who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry where you were dug.
Look to Abraham your ancestor, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. They were alone when I called them, but I blessed them and made them many. The Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her ruins. He will make her desert likeEden and her wilderness like the Lord’s garden. Happiness and joy will be found in her— thanks and the sound of singing.

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
In you, our ancestors trusted. They trusted and you delivered them.
It was you who brought me from the womb,
you who kept me safe on my mother's breast.
Since my mother bore me, you have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
God does not despise the affliction of the afflicted.
God does not hide from me.
When I cry to God, God hears me.
Thanks be to God.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his Name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
thou annointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Reflection

Comfort and Joy

Candle Lighting

Candles are available if you feel led to light one or more as a way to symbolically name your darkness and find hope in the light.

Dismissal with Blessing