There is no way to do justice to the starry sky tonight ...I came home from the longest night service (sometimes called Blue Christmas), and stood in the driveway and simply looked up ... it was breath-taking ... there were countless stars and constellations I couldn't name ... it was beautiful ...
Tonight's service was the time in our Church Calender when we pause to name the burdens and the sorrows and the hurts we carry into the Holiday Season ... It is a time when we acknowledge the losses we as human being shave suffered and own the hurt those losses have wrought.
I like the Longest Night Service. Liturgically, I prefer it to the other services of the Christmas Season. To me it is the service where we face the reality of life ... On the Longest Night of the year, in the darkness, we light our candles and echo Isaiah who said "the people who walked in the darkness, have seen a great light ..."
For some, Christmas is not a season filled with lightness and joy. It is struggle ... it can be a burden. I don't mind Christmas, but it doesn't fill me with overwhelming joy ... I understand how people can feel down at Christmas ... I often do ... But tonight, standing, looking up seeing the countless stars and galaxies over head, I felt connected to something beyond myself ... it wasn't joy that washed over me, but it was a sense of contentment ... knowing that no matter what twists and turns life might take - we are never alone in the cosmos ...
Tonight, I stood in my driveway and looked up at millions upon millions of stars ... and I felt a little bit less alone in the cosmos ... I simply can't do what my eyes beheld any sort of justice ... I can only invite you to go out on a clear dark night and take in the same vista ...
Let me know what you discover ...
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