December 20: Blue Christmas

For many Advent and Christmas are seasons of joy and celebration.  And still, for many others, Advent and Christmas bring back painful memories of what has been and reminders of all the ways that life is different than we had hoped.  This is the gift of a Blue Christmas.  Typically held on the longest day of winter, a Blue Christmas service invites people to hold the tension of grief and sorrow in a season of joy and celebration.

Whether your grief is acute and specific, or just the background hum from a difficult year, take time today to place all your longings before God (Psalm 38:9).  Our Savior is a Suffering Servant, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53). Pour out your heart to Him, for He cares for you (Psalm 62:8, 1 Peter 5:7).  He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).  Take heart, nothing is unseen and your every tear is caught by the One who overcame the world (Hebrews 4:13, Psalm 56:8, John 16:33).

In His First Advent, He stepped into our pain.  

In His Second Advent, He will wipe every tear and set all things right.  

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

How can you hold the tensions of gratitude and grief, sorrow and joy?

How can you pray for friends and family for whom this season feels particularly painful?

To download the full devotional, click here.

21 December: Blue Christmas

Life is hard.  It can be unpredictable and often painful.  Jesus reminds us that in this world we will have trouble (Jn 16:33).  2020 has left no one unscathed from the realities of living in a broken and troubled world.  Celebration and suffering can often seem at odds - as if you must ignore one or the other.  I think what Advent teaches us is that we live in a tension between the now and not yet.  We live with longing, expectation, and hope, like people who say ‘all my desires are before You…’ and clinging to the prayer ‘and if not…’ He is still good (Ps 38:9, Dan 3:18). 

A Blue Christmas service often held on the longest day of Winter, is an invitation to hold the tension of loss and expectation.  To acknowledge that grief and celebration can exist together.  To bring every part, good, bad, and ugly to the One who invites us to share our weary, and heavily burdened heart to the One who knows our need. 

Whether your grief is an acute and specific, or a general hum from a difficult year, set aside time today to place all your desires before God.  Pour out your heart to Him (Ps 62:8).  He cares for you (1 Pet 5:7).  Even when grief feels like it will swallow you whole, He will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13:5).  Our Suffering Servant was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isa 53).  Take heart, nothing goes unseen by the One who loves you, and He has overcome the world.  His first Advent, He stepped into our pain, in His second, He will do away with it once and for all.  

'Come, let us return to the Lord;

    for He has torn us, that He may heal us;

    He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.’ 

- Hosea 6:1

To download a complete PDF of the O Antiphon Advent Devotional, click here.