Blue Christmas service will be a first for area - Community News

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Blue Christmas service will be a first for area

Burntisland Parish Church

Published on 02/12/2012 15:30

elvis sang about having a “blue Christmas” over 50 years ago, and he wasn’t alone in suffering from the blues at this darkest time of year.

Many people find Christmas the hardest time to deal with stress, depression, the demands of the season, or the pain of losing a loved one.

Financial pressures or separation from family can also be hard at a time when there are unrealistic expectations of joy and peace.

Church should be a place where you don’t have to pretend, even at Christmas, thinks Diane West, and that’s why Burntisland Parish Church has organised Fife’s very first ‘Blue Christmas’ service.

Far from being about tinsel and excess, or the perfect family celebration, the real Christmas story is about an unplanned pregnancy (which nearly destroyed an engagement), hardship, poverty and danger in the midst of foreign occupation. It’s also about God being born into the mess human beings have made, as a vulnerable child.

Reflective

The reflective candlelit service on December 9 will not be a “bah-humbug” event, but will focus on our common need for light in the darkness.

Tea/coffee and mince pies will be on offer afterwards as well as the opportunity to receive prayer.

‘Blue Christmas’ Services have been held in other parts of the country, but this is a first for Burntisland and the local area.

Alan Sharp, minister of Burntisland Parish Church, explained that the service is all “about God being here in the midst of our pain and bringing hope to those who can be dreading our conventional Christmas.”

Alternative

Allan Grant, Chaplain for NHS Fife’s Mental Health services, has welcomed the news of the new initiative, believing that it could benefit many looking for an alternative way to mark Christmas.

Anyone wanting to find out for themselves can just turn up at Burntisland Church Hall on the evening of December 9 at 6.30 p.m., or contact Diane West on 07941 705031 for more information.

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