Blue Christmas as The Refuge

The Refuge has been hosting Blue Christmas gatherings for over a decade now, creating a space for people to engage with the painful realities of the holidays in a way that is raw, honest, and experiential. Our Blue Christmas experiences have evolved, but have always centered on contemplative and experiential stations that people can engage with in any ways that work for them. Different people create stations based on themes of Blue Christmas and we have one night for a shared liturgy–Refuge-style–and hands-on experience and then keep some of them up for the remainder of Advent for people to continue to engage with. A lot of people’s favorite–smashing ornaments at the Anger station.  

How Stations Work

Each station includes some creative elements that center on a specific theme (Loss, Pain, Fear, Forgiveness, Release, Waiting, Anger, etc.). We include a reflection flow for the station so they are each self-guided and participants can engage in any way they want. We try to always have an experiential element to it (pouring water, writing, creating, adding to a community art piece, tactile connection–anything the helps engage our souls not just our heads). 

Adapting Stations to Use for Your Community

We have over 10 years of content that we’ve created collaboratively, and we’d love to have you use anything we’ve done as a launching point for your own creative contexts. We have a list of all of the stations we’ve done, along with flows that go with them, for you to download if you’d like. Our only request is that you make a small donation to The Refuge to honor people’s work over the years and keep this site moving. It can be as little as $1–we always want to make things accessible for all while at the same time honoring the creative efforts of many volunteers over the years and supporting our work as a Christian community and mission center. 

A Weary World

A Weary World: Reflections for a Blue Christmas by Kathy Escobar is an excellent resource for ideas, and Westminster John Knox Press has created a whole folder of free digital downloads for you to access with images, sermon prompts, and weekly ideas for a Blue Christmas focus or service in your community. You can access that here.