GREENFIELD — The pastor has heard it from families before: There’s just no desire to carry out this or that Christmas tradition this year, because a family member won’t be there for it anymore.
“They just don’t feel like doing that exact same thing,” said the Rev. Ethan Maple, lead pastor of The Movie Theater Church in Mt. Comfort. “It’s not going to be the same if they’re not there — ‘This is going to be different, and I’m not really excited about what that different is.’”
In the past, Maple used to help a funeral home with a holiday service for families it had served during the year. With several families in the MTC congregation experiencing loss of a loved one this year, the church is launching a Blue Christmas/Longest Night service.
It’s one of several such services planned by Hancock County churches as a way to mark the holy season in a manner that acknowledges sadness and struggle. During the darkest days of the calendar year, when daylight hours are shortest (hence the name Longest Night), some feel darkness on a personal level. To them, the churches open their doors.
Such services say to them, “We’ll meet you where you are … God meets you where you are and holds you there,’” said Russel Jarvis, senior chaplain at Hancock Regional Hospital.
Jarvis recalls a community holiday service that used to take place for those grieving, a collaboration of local funeral homes and area churches, that typically drew 300 people or more. Such follow-up has taken on different forms in recent years, such as the luminaries that will surround Erlewein Mortuary in Greenfield starting at dusk on Saturday.
Light will also shine during a Blue Christmas service at Cross of Grace Lutheran Church in New Palestine. Worshipers will light candles during “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”
The Rev. Mark Havel said the service, which Cross of Grace has offered for several years, includes some of the same elements as a traditional Christmas Eve service — candles, carols, Scripture readings — “You just hear them differently at this worship service.”
Havel said people first think of the death of a loved one when they hear about a service such as this, but he said people facing a divorce, job loss or other situations might also appreciate it.
“It’s a safe place for people to feel whatever they’re feeling — and to do it in the company of other people,” he said.
“Jesus showed up in the world the first time because things weren’t great. That’s exactly why we need good news and grace and the love that we’re celebrating in Jesus.”
Maple has a similar view. He will invite worshipers to light a candle and then write something — a name, a circumstance, a situation — on a board, making a visual for the service that is not created for them, but by them, he said. He wants to honor their grief and invite them to open themselves to hope.
“It’s OK to hurt during this season,” Maple said. “Not everything about Christ is holly-jolly. He died a horrible death.
“God saw a hurting and grieving world, and that’s why Christ came into it.”
Both pastors said one doesn’t have to be grieving to find meaning in a Blue Christmas service. It’s OK to simply appreciate a more contemplative service, Havel said — not everyone cries.
“It’s not just about your loss,” Maple said. “It is is for us all to sit with them, to be with them, to offer encouragement.
“I believe everyone will get something out of it … We walk together in life as a community.”
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Blue Christmas services offer a worship setting suitable for those facing grief, recent or in the past; those facing other difficult circumstances; and any other interested worshipers. Here’s where to find them:
- 6:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at McCordsville United Methodist Church, 6247 W. Broadway, McCordsville. Information: 317-335-3705, mccordsvilleumc.org
- 7 p.m. Dec. 19 at Cross of Grace Lutheran Church, New Palestine. A meal precedes the service at 6 p.m. Information:317-861-0977, www.crossofgrace.org/events/2017/12/20/blue-christmas-worship-service-meal
- 7 p.m. Dec. 21 at The Movie Theater Church, 3179 N. County Road 600W, Greenfield (inside the Mt. Comfort United Methodist Church building). Information: 317-897-0429, indymtc.com
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