Each year, the Room In The Inn community gathers for our annual Blue Christmas worship service. This time of prayer, carols, candle lighting, and communion is meant to offer hope during a time of year when the struggles of life are often felt more acutely. These “blues” can include loss and separation from loved ones, loneliness, failures, health issues, and more. For our community, the condition of homelessness flies in the face of the ideal Christmas our culture imagines. No one dreams of spending the holiday in a shelter.
Re-engaging with the stories of Jesus’ birth in scripture remind us that there was very little ideal about that time either. Yet, God’s love broke into this weary world.
We will end this afternoon’s Blue Christmas service with an adaptation of these words, the poem “First Coming” by Madeleine L’Engle:
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
