Longest Night Service

Hello Beloved Community,

Advent and Christmastide are such magical times in our faith, and in the world that surrounds us, these are times of gathering, sharing, and celebrating. Sometimes it can be hard to be with ourselves and with others when we don’t feel like celebrating. Christmas isn’t full of joy and peace for everyone; for many of us it reminds us of loved ones that we’ve lost, or how far we are from what feels safe or familiar; it reminds us that the world is groaning under burdens of violence, oppression, grief, and sadness.

Part of the Christmas season includes the longest night, known astronomically as the Winter Solstice. It is the period when the days are the shortest in the year, and when our part of the planet experiences the most night and the least daylight. Though modern technology has allowed us to ignore this reality with artificial light, our ancestors paused for and acknowledged this darkness in community by gathering with the fire. Still, despite our convenience and conventions, our hearts and bodies know that the darkness of this season is real and can mirror the pain and struggle in some part of our spirit.

If you are experiencing any measure of sadness, grief, loneliness, alienation, and feeling like you don’t know what to do with yourself or these feelings, I invite you to join your First Congregational Church UCC Community for a Longest Night service on Monday, December 22, at 5 p.m. in the Washington Gladden Chapel. Sometimes known as Blue Christmas, this service is an opportunity for us to express our lament, to grieve who and what we have lost, and to dwell together in contemplative reflection and ritual. We will share poetry, scripture, song, a ritual of prayer, and the Lord’s Supper together. All are welcome.

Please note: if the interest and attendance for this service grows beyond the chapel’s capacity, we will move down the hall to the Sanctuary.

Comfort, O Comfort my people, says the prophet Isaiah in the Hebrew bible.  We seek to do this very thing: to name and acknowledge our pain or struggle, to come alongside each other in this time of darkness, to remember our Savior, and to trust that the Light will break through. Your holiday schedule is jam-packed, I know, and you’ve already made your travel plans. But if you are free, and if you need a little quiet, a little stillness, a little reflection, it is to be had in community together and with Spirit. Let us gather with our tender hearts and dwell in the sacred dark and quiet. 

In the presence and love of Christ,

Rev. jessica young chang (they/she)