Advent Word - December 17 - #pray - “I'll have a blue Christmas without you; I'll be so blue just thinking about you.”

The "Advent Word" practice is a daily meditation on a given word and an opportunity to share that reflection on social media with others who are keeping this practice. It's akin to an Advent calendar, but with many boxes to open on a given day. Sometimes the reflections are sincere, and sometimes they're a little silly, but at the end of the day, it's a practice set aside to help us observe the season of Advent in the midst of the world's busyness. With all of that in mind, this is going to be my attempt to observe the Advent Word practice. I wish I could promise a reflection every day, and we'll see where this goes together.

I'll freely admit I wasn't looking forward to this portion of the Advent Word with the "Way of Love" words. I've been helping lead a class on those steps, and while they've been on my mind, I just couldn't get an image for "turn" or "learn" that I liked enough for an instagram post. Today, though, was different. I kind of knew ahead of time what we'd use today.

As some of you know, tonight was our first "Blue Christmas" at our church. I've thought about it for years, but this year was a chance with the right energy and the right atmosphere for us to try it. I had lots of uncertainty and nervousness before it and during it, but the service itself was beautiful and rich, and I think everyone who attended felt like they got something from it.

What was striking to me was the cross-section of our membership who made time to be with us, who made themselves available and vulnerable to show everyone else there that they were hurting or sad during this holiday season, a time when we're all supposed to put on a brave face and sing the Christmas songs with gusto. I'm thankful for those who came, and I'm thankful for those who helped make sure that we did the service and who trusted us enough to encourage us to do it.

Most especially, though, I'm thankful that I got to be a part of something that hopefully gave someone some peace and solace in a time when it's hard to find that. I look forward to the chance to refine the service and make the necessary changes, and I look forward to sharing this service with people for years to come.