Friday, December 20, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 20th of December 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I get near the big day, and I get a little silly- really, breaking all kinds of rules, albeit self-appointed rules I made up myself to make this Almanac gimmick work.

And we went from “Christmas History Almanac” on the weekends to it infiltrating all the other days and more to come.  I want to talk about two things, one of which has significance tomorrow. 

Harrison in Prescott, Arizona- you asked, amidst all the Christmas music if there was any song I didn’t care for. Now, on this show, I want to keep it positive, so this is only in jest. You might like this song, but it’s the worst. It is Blue Christmas. Elvis didn’t like it- he thought it stunk. It was the last track needed for a Christmas album, Elvis reportedly said, “let’s just get it over with.” But also, the romantic genre of Christmas music is the least necessary and sometimes most inappropriate- (and unless I’ve misread the song completely- Santa is kissing that guy’s mom!) Blue Christmas is fine; I just might skip it if it isn’t peppy enough.

Enough about that Blue Christmas- because tomorrow, the 21st of December- the winter solstice this year, and even when the “longest day of the year” isn’t exactly on the 21st, you might see church services, perhaps called “Longest Night” or “Blue Christmas” services. I mentioned this years ago, but a friend and colleague brought this to mind- I’ve done a little more digging and thinking about a service that has historically been held as a kind of service of mourning and comfort for those for whom the season might be especially difficult.

I say “historically” because these services- at least explicitly as for this purpose and with these titles might go back as far as the 1980s…. There are various people claiming it came from here or there- I’m moved by the argument that perhaps it started in the hospice community and then made its way into the churches.

But, I’d like to suggest- the practice is ancient and perhaps could be revived. You may have heard of Christians, perhaps in the Eastern Orthodox tradition (more on them and Christmas next week) you know that there is fasting associated with Christmas- and this has historically been practiced as part of the penitential aspects of Advent.

To be clear, I am all-in on the team “Celebrate Christmas and Advent however you choose,” and Christmas music will always start in the car on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa’s. But just as Easter- the grand celebration over death (!) starts off in, sometimes literally, ashes and penance, many in the church thought that the grand season of the incarnation should start that way as well- or at least to hold a place for mourning and sadness, to recognize our ills before we receive their destroyer.

Historically, the church has practiced fasting (sometimes literally) alongside feasting (almost always literally?). As a cultural Christmas season began to expand, it bumped/squeezed out/choked to death Advent and its moments for reflection on the law and sin and death and, well, the whole problem we have in the first place, such that an Incarnation and Resurrection would be such, such good news.

And so, sometime in the 1980s, perhaps out of a hospice, perhaps out of Canada…. Or perhaps out of the need for a recognition of the somber reality- the Blue Christmas or Longest Night services began. You might look for one in your area, start your own (there are liturgies online), or take a moment to pray for those who might be having a tough time of year.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary, another Messianic promise, this time from Isaiah:

“For a long time I have kept silent,
    I have been quiet and held myself back.


But now, like a woman in childbirth,

    I cry out, I gasp and pant.

I will lay waste the mountains and hills

    and dry up all their vegetation;


I will turn rivers into islands

    and dry up the pools.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;


I will turn the darkness into light before them

    and make the rough places smooth.


These are the things I will do;

    I will not forsake them.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 20th of December 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wishes you a “brew” Christmas.. at gillespie.coffee? He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man with movies to watch, packages to wrap, bread and candles to make (and a bunch of shows so I can take some time off to do that). I’m  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.