“Blue Christmas,” an annual gathering for those who are experiencing loss during the holiday season, will be hosted by Calvary Church, 150 Harvest Drive in Boalsburg, at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8.
The gathering, first held by the church last year, is designed to provide support and perspective for those who are feeling grief while others are experiencing holiday joy.
According to Karen Brewster, one of the event’s organizers, “We want to allow people a space to process their loss. That loss could be the death of a loved one; it could be a divorce; it could be the diagnosis of an illness.”
Adds Brewster, whose husband Thom passed away on Jan. 3, 2020, “Some people don’t want to feel they’re a burden to others during the holidays. So creating this ‘Blue Christmas’ space allows everyone who is feeling loss to come together.”
The format of “Blue Christmas” will differ from typical church services. As guests arrive, they will be invited to light a blue votive candle as a representation of their loss—a departed loved one or a sorrowful situation. Several individuals who have experienced heartbreak will then share their struggles and several appropriate songs will be sung.
Scott Leddy, one of the church’s associate pastors, will offer hopeful words from Scripture and thoughts stemming from his mother’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
After the meeting concludes, guests will be free to informally share their experiences with others and they will be encouraged to take a blue votive candle home as a reminder of the evening.
Leddy notes that last year’s gathering attracted more than 100 people and most of them took advantage of the opportunity to interact after the service ended.
“I think people genuinely found some community in the midst of their grief,” he says. “When you get to a holiday like Christmas and you’re feeling loneliness, the holiday magnifies that feeling of being isolated.”
Dan Nold, Calvary’s lead pastor since 1994, says that last year’s “Blue Christmas” service marked a new threshold in the church’s sensitivity to those who grieve during the holidays.
“We had always acknowledged pain,” he notes, “but we had never done something that was very specifically designed for people who are grieving.”
Says Nold, “It’s okay to go through Christmas and not feel like everything is joyful. Christmas is not happy for everybody, but there is a message of hope in Christmas that is for everybody. Jesus was not born into a time and a culture where everything was going well, and in some ways it was harder than what we’re going through now. But he brought a sense of hope.”
In addition to the Boalsburg gathering this Sunday, Calvary will also sponsor a “Blue Christmas” event at its Tyrone location, 1650 Clay Avenue, at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21.
