Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network offers some solace during the winter solstice

More than 60 people gather for online worship during the longest night of 2022

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Photo by Joanna Kosinska via Unsplash

LOUISVILLE ­— The Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network and the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Christian Formation used the longest night for 2022 on Wednesday to hold a winter solstice and Blue Christmas service online. More than 60 people attended, lighting candles in their homes and joining as four candles were first lighted, then extinguished online.

“It’s a time to gather and acknowledge that though we are singing ‘Joy to the World,’ others are humming ‘Blue Christmas,’” said the Rev. Dr. Ella F. Busby, Associate for Pastor Concerns and Fellowship at the Presbytery of New Harmony and stated supply at Second Presbyterian Church in Sumter, South Carolina, who preached during Wednesday’s hour-long service. “We have feelings and emotions we sometimes try to hide.”

“Feel the loneliness, pain and sadness you are experiencing,” she advised . “Trust God to heal and comfort you and know that you are not alone.”

Along with the ritual of lighting candles, the service included Scripture passages, songs and liturgy that spoke to Busby’s theme, which echoed throughout the service: “Christmas can be blue, painful and lonely for many — maybe even you.”

Many, if not most of us, have heard several times over the last few weeks two seasonal songs popular for different reasons: “White Christmas” and “Blue Christmas,” which includes this lyric: “You’ll be doin’ all right with your Christmas of white, but I’ll have a blue, blue Christmas.”

The Rev. Dr. Ella F. Busby

What do we do, Busby wondered, when our Christmas is not white, but blue? It’s not necessarily either/or, and our colors can change, Busby said, just as Joseph’s outlook changes in Matthew 1 after the Lord appears to him in a dream.

“Don’t pretend all is well when it isn’t,” Busby advised. “Acknowledge your feelings and be kind to yourself. Reach out to others, and when you’re hurting, recognize you are not alone. Reach out to people and help them, and let others help you.”

“When your white Christmas is blue,” Busby suggested, “start a new tradition, or do the same old things in different ways.”

While “this is a joyful and exciting time, everyone is not feeling that way. God knows this,” and God blesses our mourning, Busby noted, comforting us even as we mourn.

“Mourning and comforting can be healing, but we should not do it alone. We should share it with one another,” Busby said. “God will get us through this blue time. God will be a solace and a friend to us.”

“We trust in God, who is truly the center of our joy,” Busby said. “My brothers and sisters, take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. God cares for each and every one of us. Amen and amen.”

As the online candles went out and their smoke disappeared, Busby reminded those in worship that the act is symbolic. “Suffering passes, but the memories we have of our loved ones will remain with us forever and ever. That’s the good news,” Busby said. “That’s what we do when our Christmas is blue.”

After one last song, Busby offered this benediction: “May the grace of God, the love of Jesus Christ, and the sweet, sweet communion of the Holy Spirit rule, rest and abide with each one of us until we meet again. Go now in peace.”

Several of those gathered for worship expressed their appreciation for POAMN’s first-ever winter solstice and blue Christmas service.