Here’s
a advent wreath litany for a Blue Christmas (or Longest Night) service. It comes from the Wellsprings website.
Advent Wreath Litany: Blue
Christmas
We
light our first candle
a
single light that the deepest darkness cannot conquer –
small,
insignificant –
but
a sign of hope.
Let it speak to us of the tiny flame
of hope buried within us –
the stubborn little light that
refuses to be extinguished
by all that life has thrown at it.
We
light our second candle
a
companion to the first –
equally
small, equally insignificant –
but
witnessing to hope that another light brings.
Let it speak to us of the lights of
companionship –
of our families and our friends –
of strangers
and kindnesses found in unexpected
places
that restored our hope in human
nature.
We
light our third candle
recalling
nights of watching and waiting –
sleepless,
anxious –
when
dawn seemed to ebb further from the horizon
and
hope seemed forlorn.
Let it speak to us of the sureness
of morning –
of the passing of darkness
of suffering –
and the promise of an eternal
sunrise
dawning for those we have loved and
lost
and dawning too for us –
though we may yet be in that darkest
hour before the dawn.
We
light our fourth candle –
marking
the closing of the Advent season
and
the immediacy of Christmas –
a
time of peace and joy we may not ourselves feel able to welcome –
as
our spirits dwell in dark and wintriness.
Let it speak to us of hope –
of being together in this place of
healing and wholenesss –
of our companionship this night
at the turning of the year –
of faith that we and those we have
loved and lost
are held eternally in the hand of
the One who brought light into being –
and who knows each one of us by
name.
~
from Blue Christmas Service on the Wellsprings website. To see the entire service, click here: http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/liturgies/blue_christmas.htm
