Skies Full of Promise – Some Prayers

Blue Christmas illuminations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have recently found some excellent resources for something called “Blue Christmas” – services celebrating those for whom Christmas is not a happy time, those suffering, and those grieving. When reading some suggested services for this celebration (links at the bottom of this post) I came across some prayers which I thought might be helpful for me, and for you.

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God of life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and wear us down;
when the road seems dreary and endless,
the skies grey and threatening;
when our lives have no music in them and our hearts are lonely,
and our souls have lost their courage.
Flood the path with light,
we beseech you; turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise.
-St Augustine

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Gentle me, Holy One,
into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go of heavy experiences,
of shriveling anxieties, of dead certainties, that,
softened by the silence, surrounded by the light, and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy that is you.
-Ted Loder

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Blue Christmas service resources can be found at One Mind Mental Illness Ministry and Mental Health Ministries. I encourage you to check them out!

Related articles

• Getting Ready For A Blue Christmas – a New Resource List (godspace.wordpress.com)
• Sunday service to ease holiday sadness (yumasun.com)
• Wonder: Your Prayer has Been Heard (everydayawe.com)
• “Blue Christmas” Worship This Sunday (faithartsfpc.com)
• Blue Christmas Prayer Service for those suffering (wvgazette.com)