In this difficult year, please join us in a Service of the Longest Night, which will be available for viewing Monday, December 21, 2020, at 5pm MST, 4pm PST, on our Facebook and Vimeo pages, and at gcsynod.org/longest-night.

In the service, we recognize the dark night of the soul of 2020. Using four candles, you’ll be invited to light them one by one as the service progresses, with prayer, words, and music from Office of the Bishop staff, our conference deans, and synod musicians.

The “Service of the Longest Night” is named for these days in December when we experience the shortest day and the longest night of the year.  But the name also applies to the feeling that a number of us have about this season. For many, it is the “long dark night of the soul,” in which memories of past experiences and the pain of present experience can become overwhelming.

For some, Christmas Day is the most difficult. For others, it is Christmas Eve, or New Year’s Eve, or the beginning of another lonely New Year.

In this service, we recognize that this is not necessarily a season of joy. We will invite you to meditate on the whole experience of life, even the pain and the anguish.

We encourage you to offer your pain to the Christ child. None of us are alone in the darkest parts of our life. In fact, Jesus, the Light of Life, has himself been to the greatest depths and the darkest places. In this service, may you find hope and comfort in knowing that you are not alone.