Winter Solstice Worship 2022

POAMN’s Winter Solstice Service Brings Comfort to Those Hurting at Christmas

 

Each year as Christmas approaches, the tidings everywhere are of joy and gladness – a “White Christmas” if you will. However, many folks who have experienced deep personal losses are hurting inside; hearing songs about joy and gladness does not help them. They are experiencing a “Blue Christmas.”

To offer comfort to those hurting at Christmastime, the POAMN Conference Planning Team, under the able leadership of Adrienne Knight, hosted a virtual worship service on December 21, the Winter Solstice. This solstice marks the annual date with the longest night hours.

The service was led by Rev. Dr. Ella F. Busby. More than seventy viewers participated online for this deeply touching worship service.

Rev. Busby began with the words, “Though we are singing ‘Joy to The World’, others are humming ‘Blue Christmas’. God knows your pain, and loves you unconditionally.”

For Christ knows what it’s like to be blue. Using a blue-colored Bowl of Tears as a symbol, Rev. Busby reminded us that “there is room in Christmas for sadness.”

What Do You Do When Your White Christmas is Blue?

Drawing from Matthew 1:20-23, wherein an angel appeared to Joseph telling him that Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit, Rev. Busby acknowledged that “Christmas can be blue, painful, and lonely.” She offered the following suggestions:

1. Accept your feelings.
2. Be kind to yourself.
3. Take off the stress.
4. Reach out to others and help them.

She continued, “We will find comfort in God. The scriptures tell us, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ Mourning and comforting can be healing. But, we should not do it alone. We should share it with one another. We should be the shoulder that others can lean on. God will get us through this Blue Time. We trust in God who is truly the Center of our Joy. Brothers and Sisters, take your cares to the LORD, and leave them there. For He cares for each and every one of us.”

Thank you, Rev. Dr. Busby, and all the individuals who had a hand in bringing this deeply touching worship service into being.

Thanks be to God!

Presenters

Rev. Steve Aschmann
Monica Brown
Walter Colclough
Quentin Holmes
Adrienne Knight
Robert Singleton

Musical Selections

“Gonna Lay Down My Burdens”
“Comfort My People”
“Through It All”
“Jesus, The Center of My Joy”

Scripture

Psalm 42:5-11
Isaiah 40:1, 25-31
Psalm 121

About Worship Leader Rev. Dr. Busby

The Reverend Dr. Ella F. Busby is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She spent 25 years as pastor to several churches in Georgia and South Carolina before retiring.

Still, she continues to be about the business of winning souls for Christ. She is joyfully serving the Second Presbyterian Church (Sumter, SC) as supply pastor, and the Presbytery of New Harmony (Florence, SC) as associate for pastoral concerns and fellowship.

Ella received a Master of Divinity degree and the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award from Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. She earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, where she also served as president of the Alumni Council. She did doctoral study at Bossey Institute in Switzerland.