Dear Friends & Neighbors,

I’d like to invite you to a unique kind of Christmas service that has become meaningful to many at our church and across our city. Blue Christmas is an evening of worship for those experiencing grief and sadness, loneliness and loss this Christmas season, and for those who want to stand in com-passionate solidarity with them, weeping with those who weep.

We host this service because, for many, the holidays can be a time of great struggle rather than a time of great joy. The Christmas season can surface our most painful losses: the death of a loved one, a lingering illness or injury, a breakup or divorce, mental health crises, ongoing financial burdens, difficulties at work and dysfunctional relationships at home. These struggles can leave us feeling lonely, unloved, and lost at Christmas.

But at Midtown we believe Jesus came into the world at Christmas for this very purpose: to comfort the lonely, to care for the afflicted, to love the downcast, to face our sorrows with us, and destroy death and darkness for us. At Blue Christmas, we lament our losses while looking to Jesus for real and lasting hope.

We'd love for you to join us on December 17 at 7:00pm as we seek bright hope for tomorrow despite today's many griefs.

- Pastor Rick Whitlock