{"id":7214,"date":"2022-12-14T13:04:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T18:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/?p=7214"},"modified":"2022-12-16T09:35:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:35:55","slug":"blue-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>Join us for a Blue Christmas service on Thursday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. As we approach the longest night of the year on winter solstice, we await the birth of an inner light and dare to imagine that God will come to us again. The Blue Christmas service is traditionally a time to acknowledge the underside of &#8220;the most wonderful time of the year.&#8221; Together we are mindful of the stress, the amplified grief of loss, the sorrows of those living on life&#8217;s edge, and the realities of a world in which violence is a lived experience for too many. We will lean into the ancient lament of our tradition as well as God&#8217;s comfort. This service will meet us in our grief and struggle, and lead us out toward the light with healing music, words that nurture, and the warmth of community. Marian Drake, Susan Saudek, and David Greer will offer personal testimonies, and Dennis Turner and Michael Hopkins will serve as our musicians. Join us and tend to your soul. In person and by Zoom with <a href=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/j\/82244800750?pwd=VncvMTRicEExaktTa21hd1QwMTZsQT09#success\">this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dec-15-BlueXmas-Worship-Folder.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> for Blue Christmas worship folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3-300x232.jpg\" alt=\"Five lit candles on a blue background\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3-580x448.jpg 580w, https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Join us for a Blue Christmas service on Thursday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. As we approach the longest night of the year on winter solstice, we await the birth of an inner light and dare to imagine that God will come to us again. The Blue Christmas service is traditionally a time to acknowledge&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blue Christmas - First Congregational United Church of Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Christmas - First Congregational United Church of Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Join us for a Blue Christmas service on Thursday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. As we approach the longest night of the year on winter solstice, we await the birth of an inner light and dare to imagine that God will come to us again. The Blue Christmas service is traditionally a time to acknowledge...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Congregational United Church of Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-14T18:04:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-16T14:35:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Church Office\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Church Office\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Church Office\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c4ca8a47b5f4f7ab0dc729caee69441\"},\"headline\":\"Blue Christmas\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-14T18:04:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-16T14:35:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":192,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Archived News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Christmas - First Congregational United Church of Christ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-14T18:04:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-16T14:35:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c4ca8a47b5f4f7ab0dc729caee69441\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":618,\"caption\":\"Five lit candles on a blue background\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/14\\\/blue-christmas\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blue Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Congregational United Church of Christ\",\"description\":\"Washington DC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c4ca8a47b5f4f7ab0dc729caee69441\",\"name\":\"Church Office\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.firstuccdc.org\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/churchoffice\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blue Christmas - First Congregational United Church of Christ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blue Christmas - First Congregational United Church of Christ","og_description":"Join us for a Blue Christmas service on Thursday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. As we approach the longest night of the year on winter solstice, we await the birth of an inner light and dare to imagine that God will come to us again. The Blue Christmas service is traditionally a time to acknowledge...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/","og_site_name":"First Congregational United Church of Christ","article_published_time":"2022-12-14T18:04:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-16T14:35:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":618,"url":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Church Office","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Church Office","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/"},"author":{"name":"Church Office","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9c4ca8a47b5f4f7ab0dc729caee69441"},"headline":"Blue Christmas","datePublished":"2022-12-14T18:04:53+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-16T14:35:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/"},"wordCount":192,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg","articleSection":["Archived News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/","name":"Blue Christmas - First Congregational United Church of Christ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-14T18:04:53+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-16T14:35:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9c4ca8a47b5f4f7ab0dc729caee69441"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Blue-Christmas-3.jpg","width":800,"height":618,"caption":"Five lit candles on a blue background"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/blue-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blue Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/","name":"First Congregational United Church of Christ","description":"Washington DC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9c4ca8a47b5f4f7ab0dc729caee69441","name":"Church Office","url":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/author\/churchoffice\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7214"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7219,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions\/7219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstuccdc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}