The liturgical color of Advent is blue, which represents hope. I also think this offers a metaphor for those experiencing grief. If you need to learn deeply into that blueness, then do it. You do not need to decorate. When my husband died, I put up the tree arch, but I didn’t make any cookies for the first time in years.
I skipped Christmas Eve service and instead attended a “Blue Christmas” service in mid-December. It was what I needed. I don’t know if it will be the right choice each year, but the blueness of Advent also reminds me that the season is about contemplation.
Like the ache in my heart, Christmas comes – no matter what. The birth of Jesus is the inbreaking of God into the world as it is, not the world as we wish it were. As it says in John’s Gospel, the Word became flesh because God so loved the world (John 1:14 and 3:16).
This message is excerpted from “One Will be Left” by Kristen Glass Perez in the December 2019 Gather magazine. All are welcome to attend a Blue Christmas service via Zoom, December 21 at 7 p.m. (CST).
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