Blue Christmas -- Day 11

Advent
by Stephen Leake

Somewhere your star-struck choir sings
As the evening unpeels our histories.
The world is here again!

I feel the breathing of yuletide fires,
The ribboned refrains of seasoned candles
And bars of voices beyond St. Stephen’s Wall.

The robin appears in a globe of joy
His carol negotiating wreaths of cloud
And tinsled cakes of snow.

We wing into the holy day
While the blinking eye of the gifting moon
Receives you at that vanishing point

On memory’s path:
Outlived by love
Alone.


Last week, I wrote a blog on the spirit of Advent.  The mood of Advent can be hard to grasp in a season that is often Santa-saturated, but my time living through the cold dark winters in Boston helped me to grasp the mood a bit better.  You see, way up North, around this time of year, it starts getting dark at around 3pm every day, and it's bitterly cold.  Yet at the same time, that cold and darkness brings people together; people come home earlier, stay inside with their families more, linger a little longer around the dinner table or fire, and cuddle up on the sofa with a blanket and a dog a bit more often.  Advent is about light and warmth coming into that dark and cold environment -- about Jesus Christ coming into a world that can be as bitter as a New England winter.

Every year, I have had the privilege of being involved in our church's powerful Blue Christmas service.  We advertise that this service is an intimate service for people who are experiencing grief or loss during the holidays, but honestly, who doesn't carry some story of grief or loss in their heart during this season of good cheer?  I venture to say that none of us will celebrate Christmas with every single one of our loved ones alive, well, and near, and with not a single pang of sadness upon our heart.  The liturgical color in the Church the world over for Advent is deep blue.  Blue -- the color of the night sky where the Christmas star blazed bright above the manger, a celestial image that is the same time about darkness and light, loneliness and wonder.  And it is not just that deep blue color that makes the Blue Christmas service a most fitting representation of Advent.  This service truly brings light to people who are walking in darkness by providing a safe place to cry and a true word of hope.  This service brings warmth to those who feel shut out in the cold as we literally wrap people in the warm prayer shawls that were lovingly made for them by our prayer shawl group.  It is the very picture of Advent, the very picture of Christ entering into the broken places in our world, being born out of our love.

We all walk through this season in deep blue -- some of us are just deeper in it than others -- yet we look to Jesus Christ as our true light and our hope.  I hope you will join us Monday December 17th at 7pm to experience the powerful beauty and comfort of Blue Christmas.