Pastor's Corner: Blue Christmas or Sparkle Christmas?

There's a type of service that's been growing in popularity for the last few years. It's called a Blue Christmas. A Blue Christmas service is meant for people who are just that - kind of blue, even during Christmas. While the rest of the world croons about holly jolly Christmas and the most wonderful time of the year, a Blue Christmas service gives people space to rest, weep, and hold grief with one another. This service names our pain. It's often held just a few days before Christmas, on the winter solstice, when even the calendar testifies that some days, the light is gone too soon and the darkness lasts too long.

It is a powerful and holy service, giving us room to honor the complex realities of grieving during the holidays. I thought about holding a Blue Christmas service last week. There is enough pain in the world and in our community that I could see the benefit of a Blue Christmas. Especially this year, when Russia and Ukraine keep warring. When the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem is putting up its nativity set amidst rubble, when we've lost so many people who are so dear to us ... yes, I saw the need for a Blue Christmas.

And yet, for others, perhaps Christmas didn't feel blue at all. For you, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. You can't wait to spend time with family or friends. You look forward to the feasting and the gifting. You love every string of lights and every ornament and every Christmas cookie. You're not the Blue Christmas people; you're the Sparkle Christmas people.

So, do we turn to the Blue Christmas or the Sparkle Christmas? Well ... we turn to the Scripture, specifically Luke 1:26-38. We call it the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she has found favor with God and that she would conceive and bear a son who would be the savior of the world, the messiah, who would repair God's world and redeem God's people.

Mary is the first one to hear the news of Christmas, and I think for her it was more of a Blue Christmas. She knows that physically, this is an impossible pregnancy. She knows that socially, this is the ruin of her reputation and marriage prospects - goodbye, Joseph. She knows that politically, any Jewish boy who sets himself up as Savior is sure to run into the wrath of Herod and Rome. Whatever life she had envisioned for herself, the Annunciation says: You can scrap that plan.

That's part of what a Blue Christmas holds space for: The mourning that comes with an unscheduled, unchosen change of plans. Whether we mourn a death, or a job loss, or a diagnosis, or our best friend's move across the country, mourning involves saying goodbye to the future you'd planned and hello to a future you never would have chosen. That's kind of what Mary is facing when the angel Gabriel announces his news. Life as you knew it will never be the same.

Yet, after a bit of perplexity, Mary says yes to God's messenger. She says, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

Even amidst all the worries that this baby brings, she says yes to God. She embraces the news as joyful, as we see in the very next scene, when she rushes to her relative Elizabeth and sings a song so great that the church even gave it a fancy Latin name: The Magnificat. She cries out, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for you, Lord, have looked with favor on your lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: you, the Almighty, have done great things for me and holy is your name." Even with her worries and fears, even as she might mourn the future she once dreamed of, she recognizes and shares and boldly proclaims the joyful news.

The good news is that God's salvation is sure, even when there are Herods on the prowl and Rome is on the loose and there are those who go hungry right down the street from us. The good news is that it's joyful no matter how much grief we're carrying. The good news is true even in the midst of the rubble. Perhaps, in a year when it seems like we need a Blue Christmas service more than anything, we need to proclaim all the louder that the joy of Christmas is real and true regardless of our present circumstances.

And for those Sparkle Christmas people, the Annunciation challenges them, too. Christmas is not just about a cozy feeling, augmented by consumerist happiness that's here today and gone tomorrow when the tree comes down. There's a deeper joy than holiday cheer. There's a deeper change in the world because of Christ's coming. And our yes to God goes far beyond saying 'yes' to the commercial spirit of Christmas ... our yes to God lasts far beyond the day, the season, or the year. Our yes to God is a lifelong journey of growth and learning and walking with Jesus from the manger to the cross to the empty tomb. Just like Mary.

And just like Mary, we know that there is joy to be proclaimed. On the darkest night, on the bluest Christmas, that joy is real. Whether you are blue or sparkly or balancing both, may our souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord, our spirits rejoice in God our Savior, for you, the Almighty, have done great things for us, and holy is your name.

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Pastor Megan Hoewisch

First Lutheran Church