The Third Sunday of Advent

11 dicembre 2016, domenica

Today is the third Sunday of Advent, we light the rose-colored candle of Joy.

Blue Christmas

Brightly wrapped packages, Christmas trees, holiday parties, holly and the scent of pine, unending upbeat carols in shops and malls, visits from friends and family, baking and cooking, food everywhere--and the awed, hushed joy of welcoming a tiny Infant to our world and our hearts--these are the images and memories of Christmas most of us celebrate and treasure.

But each year some people--the grieving, the lonely, those without hope--dread the approach of the holiday season. They have no heart for the cheer and the bustle, the anticipation and the excitement.

Blue Christmas services speak to the hurts and emptiness of losses sensed even more keenly at a holiday.

Blue Christmas services offer a meaningful time of comfort and inspiration, compassion and prayer.

This time of year can bring back memories of past pain and sorrow. It highlights and heightens new experiences of suffering. For many this time of year, that we call the holiday season, is no holiday at all. It is filled with difficult times, humps to get over, gatherings to endure, varieties of pressures and a flood of memories that darken and dampen the days. This service will allow for some time to recognize that this season is not a joy for everyone. When others are going "merrily along" many of us would rather the season just go away.

In this service, we will be given a chance to sing and to pray. We will be invited to offer up the pain, the loneliness, the sad and dark memories, and the anxiety and fear to the one whose birth we eagerly await...Jesus Christ. We pray that you will find hope and peace in this service and comfort in knowing that you are not alone.
(Quoted from Blue Christmas Service programme notes, St. John Cathedral)

Tonight, I light this candles to remember my grandpa, grandma and mama.

"In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember them.
In the glowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them.
In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember them.
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember them.
In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember them.
In the beginning of the year and when it ends, we remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength,  we remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart, we remember them.
When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live,
for they are now a part of us, as we remember them."