really happy to have you here. We are closing in on the longest nights of the year, the shortest

days of the year. And as we get closer to that turnaround point to the solstice when the,

when the days will finally start getting longer once again and the nights will finally start

getting shorter, as we also, as we get close to that and we also right around that same time, get close to

Christmas. One thing that a lot of churches do around this time of year is something that is

called Blue Christmas.

I'll have a blue

It is not a modern Christian tradition that we built around an Elvis Presley song, I swear, but I thought that for years.

Blue Christmas is in addition to being an excellent Elvis Presley song.

And really, I think the anchor of the 1968 comeback Elvis special, we can all admit.

Anyway, in addition to that, Blue Christmas is a,

it's a kind of a modern tradition. It's a service that a lot of churches do around this time of

year to acknowledge that the holidays, while they are joyful for a lot of people and in a lot of ways,

they are also sad for a lot of people, especially if you've lost people in your life, right?

The holidays are a time when you think about people that you've lost.

And there can be a lot of grief and a lot of sadness.

So Blue Christmas religious services around this time of year, it's kind of a sweet way to acknowledge that to sort of make some space for that sadness and grief, with or without Elvis.

A few days ago, a group of Presbyterian pastors organized a Blue Christmas service outside, outside the ICE prison where they have been locking up immigrants in Portland, Oregon.

Local news organizations,

including the Oregonian newspaper, covered it. They reported that a lot of the people who came out

for the prayers and carols and scripture readings at the gates of that facility for that Blue

Christmas service. Those were people who had never taken part in any kind of protest at that facility before.

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