We typically think of the holiday season as one of festive celebration, but for many people, the holidays may not be a joyful time, for a variety of reasons–depression, grief after the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, divorce and more. For the 3rd year, Wilton Presbyterian Church will be holding a Blue Christmas Service to help worshipers honor the season in a more subdued form.
“This is a season for many that has a lot of joy and love. But for others they may have a hard time finding the ‘merry’ and ‘bright.’ This service is grounded in the idea that the Christ child meets us where we are,” explains Rev. Shannon White, the pastor at Wilton Presbyterian.
The simple, 45-minute service will be observed tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 17 at 10 a.m. in the Presbyterian Church’s sanctuary.
While the service is an advent service, it is open to worshipers of any faith seeking companionship and solace within the community. White noted that embracing this kind of worship can be healing–for everyone.
“Number one, it assures people that you’re not alone. And spirituality, very broadly defined, is a connection with God, self and others, and this is an opportunity to meet all three. There’s an attempt to create a connection with God when those places are really hard to find, a connection with others who are there for the same person, and a connection with self because you’re touching in on the feelings that are hard to acknowledge when you see celebration and parties and all of that around.”
White has put together a service that helps people to do just that–recognize their emotions in a worshipful way.
“Even I have a hard time sometimes coming up to be really in “the holiday spirit.” I need to acknowledge the full spectrum of my feelings. So you can be in those places. Instead of the traditional candles of advent–for Hope, Peace Joy and Love–in this service we light candles for grief, pain, fears and struggles. We offer time for a silent reflection,” White says.
Singing is done a cappella without the organ, and carols and scripture are chosen with particular meaning. White describes it as, “… a hopeful service but not one that is exuberant.”
In her experience as Reverend, she has seen this kind of worshipful service to be something very necessary, in recognizing that not everyone finds this time of year and the celebrations that often accompany it as one that is easy. Even just the simple fact that there is an open invitation to worship in this way can be comforting to someone who has a difficult time reaching out.
“People have come who have experienced death and illness in family, they’ve come facing addiction–in the family or within themselves; they’ve come because of general malaise in the whole world, and for reasons I don’t know. Then other people have said to me, ‘I couldn’t get myself there because I was afraid of crying too much, but I’m so glad that you held the space for me.’ There’s certainly room for people to come and express their feelings, whatever they are,” White says.
As part of the service, the church is asking worshipers to bring canned goods and nonperishable items for donation to the Wilton Food Pantry. Rev. White says that act of giving is a key part of this Blue Christmas service.
“My belief is that when you’re in a hard place it’s always good to do service.”
The Wilton Presbyterian Church is located in the WEPCO complex at 48 New Canaan Rd.