Advent and Christmas seasons are a time that are normally associated with and thought to be a joyous happy time of the year.

For many people, it is.

It is a time where we gather together with families and friends to celebrate the birth of Christ and all that we have come to experience in the last year when we reflect back.

But as we come to look back on the year and our experiences, we also come to see the pain and loss that can come from life through the year as well.

Sometimes it's hard to find the space to name those times and our feelings around that as we want to be joyful and celebrate. We want to be happy and enjoy this time of year.

When we think back, we come to recognize those who we are not going to be with this year whether it be death, life experiences, or changes in ourselves. Change and life are inevitable, and they are hard to name and sit with when we want to be happy.

We are coming on to the longest day of the year where we are in the longest night of the year. It can be difficult to name and find the light when we are cast in the shadows of life and the year.

This week marks the beginning of the winter season on December 21, which is the longest night of the solar year because of the winter solstice.

And this is the time when we are having our Longest Night service.

This service names and focuses on the hard and challenging experiences and variety of losses we come to face in life, every year through the year. When it feels like night and darkness is all we ever feel and see. It allows time to sit and just be in ourselves whatever we are experiencing.

And it points to how Christ is with us in those darkest moments, the longest nights when we are in them. It reminds us Christ is the light that surrounds us and brings us warmth in the coldest times. The light we can turn to in those times when there is nothing else to face.

That we can rely on and trust the promises God gives to us through Jesus and continued presence in the Holy Spirit, God does not abandon us and gives us company with God and with others whenever we are in the longest nights.

Our Longest Night service will take place on December 21 at 7 pm, with a reception and time of gathering together following the service.

We invite you to come as you are, bring whatever you want to lift to God, whatever life and emotional experiences in your heart and mind right now.

Vicar Jennie White