newsletter

As much as I love Christmas and Advent and all the traditions and movies and songs that come with this time of year, I also recognize that this can be a really tough season for lots of people. Some of us are grieving loved ones or working through trauma or experiencing our first holiday season post divorce or struggling through sobriety or unable to travel to be with loved ones or estranged from our families. Many of us are also still reeling from the election and everything going on in the world. Whatever the reason is, the forced joy and positivity of this time of year can be really painful and isolating. The messaging of the media and the Church can often feel really incongruous with how many of us are actually feeling.

If that's you this year, I just want you to know that you're not alone. And that you don't have to force or fake joy or positivity or festive feelings. This season, at its core, is about welcoming Emmanuel, God with us, into a dark and broken and unfair world. It was never meant to ignore those realities but to provide hope and solidarity in the midst of it. What might it look like to carve out sacred space during this time to feel however you need to feel, to grieve if you need to grieve, to say "no" to traditions or activities or gatherings if they're too painful, to sit in silence or cry openly during the Christmas hymns at church if they're bringing up painful memories? What might it look like to lean into authentic joy and hope where you can find it but not fabricate it when you're not feeling it?

I'll share a portion of a blessing from the Philosophy over Coffee blog below, and if you need extra support during this season, please don't hesitate to reach out to me or to Michael! We love you, and we're here for you.

-Pastor Julia

Blue Christmas Prayer
Around us, O God, the singing can be heard:
'Joy to the world... let heaven and nature sing.'
This season is to be one of hope eases our minds,
when peace soothes our hearts,
when love warms our souls,
and when joy comes each morning.
But there are many who do not feel this joy.
Some might try, others have given up trying. 'Where is the joy for us?' they ask.
The world has found joy but some feel as if it has passed them by.
Our minds are not at ease... we feel too much doubt.
Our hearts are not at peace... there is too much to do.
Our souls are not warmed... the chill of death is too troubling.
Where, O God, can joy be found?
We ask this as we come before you in prayer, opening ourselves to the possibility that hope, peace, joy, and love might still come to us.
Amen.