I hadn't ever attended a Blue Christmas service before coming to Westville but it's become one of my favourite services of the year. It's a service that acknowledges that Christmas is not just joy and celebration but that it often is also a time of contradictions for so many people. We recognise that, in addition to the festivities, we may also experience grief, loneliness, and even anxiety and depression. At our Blue Christmas service this week, we made space to name those difficult emotions, but there was also plenty of laughter and a wonderful sense of being together. Essentially, we had permission to be real and to encounter the Christ who is our Helper in the midst of that reality.

I hope that in all of the busyness of this time you have been able to give yourself permission to be real this Christmas - to acknowledge the contradictions and then in the midst of that reality, to find hope and peace in the Christ who comes to be with us. May God bless you and those you love this Christmas!