Sometimes, it can feel like no matter how hard we try, it is so hard to get in to the Christmas spirit. We miss loved ones who should be around the holiday table. We think about our children who have grown up and moved away, left only with the memory of them running down the stairs with excitement as young children on Christmas morning. We miss the traditions of the past, like a favorite hymn, or the way the candlelight lit up your childhood sanctuary. We struggle knowing what we WANT Christmas to look like for our families, but just can’t afford to make it happen. We see the pain of the world around us - those who are hungry, lost, separated from their families, desperate to find a way to survive. And while we know Christmas isn’t about us, we still can’t shake the Christmas blues. It doesn’t mean we hate Christmas or that we are taking the gift of Jesus’ birth for granted, it’s just that sometimes, things feel so very heavy. The Blue Christmas Service is a time of worship to acknowledge that heaviness - to thank God for offering to carry our burdens and to rest in the presence of God when we just need a break from the bright lights of the holiday season. Whatever it is that you are carrying into this holiday season, you’re invited to gather for a sacred time of reflection, song, and scripture - a time to remember that in the most trying moments of life, God finds a way to be with God’s people through the birth of Christ. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. We are so ready for you.