“Blue Christmas” Services, sometimes called “Longest Night” services, are a new tradition among churches. The goal of the service is to acknowledge that this time of year can be hard for people with grief, which is often ignored when the world is preparing for Christmas with happy songs and bright lights.
The service is often held on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, which is coincidentally the feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle. Saint Thomas is famous for doubting the resurrection; we take comfort that, although he doubted God’s goodness, the Son of God brought Thomas in close and assuaged his doubts.
In his sermon, Pastor Ollie Bergh shows how Bethlehem and our modern world are often pretty similar. Life goes on, and before we even knew, the light of the world was born.