Welcome to Blue Christmas. A special episode here around the global campfire.

For any of us who are alone, any of us who are overwhelmed, any of us who are blue, and facing the hardships

of those emotions and feelings, that can become even more at the holiday times.

Even in a room full of joy and people and festivities.

Maybe we feel it there.

Or maybe we literally are all alone.

This is for us to not be alone.

To take a few collective moments together.

To have solidarity to not be alone.

To have someone somewhere here together. And maybe as you listen to this, you can imagine the actual reality.

As you listen, someone in the world is also listening.

And they are thinking of you, and you are thinking of them,

though you may never know it, may never meet.

These moments, we are not alone together. I'm Brian, along with my wife Jill.

I mean, we understand. And so this is for us as much as it's for you.

To not be alone in pain, anxiety, depression, shame, guilt, regret, remorse, grief, grief, and deep, deep longing.

So very slowly over the next few minutes,

we're simply going to

pray some prayers,

read some poems

and the lyrics to some carols that can allow us to enter into the actual feelings that we feel that

everything around us is telling us we have to suppress them

...