Image: Longest Night © Jan Richardson
This week, in addition to preparing for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services, many congregations will offer a “Longest Night” or “Blue Christmas” service. Usually held on or near the Winter Solstice, this gathering provides a space for those who are having a difficult time during the holidays or simply need to acknowledge some pain or loss they are carrying in the midst of this season of celebration. For you who are offering or participating in such a service, and for all who struggle in this season, I wish you many blessings and pray for the presence of Christ our Light, who goes with us in the darkness and in the day.
Blessing for the Longest Night
All throughout these months
as the shadows
have lengthened,
this blessing has been
gathering itself,
making ready,
preparing for
this night.
It has practiced
walking in the dark,
traveling with
its eyes closed,
feeling its way
by memory
by touch
by the pull of the moon
even as it wanes.
So believe me
when I tell you
this blessing will
reach you
even if you
have not light enough
to read it;
it will find you
even though you cannot
see it coming.
You will know
the moment of its
arriving
by your release
of the breath
you have held
so long;
a loosening
of the clenching
in your hands,
of the clutch
around your heart;
a thinning
of the darkness
that had drawn itself
around you.
This blessing
does not mean
to take the night away
but it knows
its hidden roads,
knows the resting spots
along the path,
knows what it means
to travel
in the company
of a friend.
So when
this blessing comes,
take its hand.
Get up.
Set out on the road
you cannot see.
This is the night
when you can trust
that any direction
you go,
you will be walking
toward the dawn.
—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief
Update: Thanks to everyone who has contacted me to ask for permission to use this blessing for a Longest Night/Blue Christmas service. If you’d like to use “Blessing for the Longest Night” in a service, I’d be delighted for you to do so; simply include this credit line:
© Jan Richardson from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief. janrichardson.com
No need to write me for permission, though I would be pleased to hear where you’re using it. If you’d like to use the artwork, please scroll down to the end of this post for info. Many thanks!
P.S. For previous reflections on the Winter Solstice, click the images or titles below:
Winter Solstice: The Moon Is Always Whole
Solstice: A Woman in Winter
(From my Sanctuary of Women blog)
[To use the “Longest Night” image, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Advent Door possible. Thank you!]
An Illuminated Joy
December 19, 2011 at 2:46 pm |
What a beautiful blessing 🙂 Thank you.
December 19, 2011 at 5:24 pm |
Thank you, Claire!
December 19, 2011 at 3:00 pm |
Ditto. I’m in love with the collage as well ~ double thanks.
December 19, 2011 at 5:25 pm |
Many thanks, Carolyn! Very grateful.
December 19, 2011 at 9:17 pm |
Jan, this is so beautiful. I’m offering a Blue Christmas Service on Wednesday at the La Jolla United Methodist Church in San Diego. I would love to incorporate your words — they touch the deep places of heart and spirit! Thank you so much. Much peace to you this Advent. Hope you are so well!
December 21, 2011 at 12:44 pm |
Lori! How wonderful to hear from you! Thanks so much. Many blessings as you offer the Blue Christmas service today, and thank you for incorporating the blessing. Peace to you!
December 19, 2011 at 9:56 pm |
Jan, thank you for this lovely poem. I am going to a Solstice Bonfire celebration and will take this to read to those who come. We are to bring some kind of burnable which we can instill the intention of what we want to let go of for this coming year. Blessings to you and Gary in your celebration and holding of this creative event of Christmas.
December 21, 2011 at 12:46 pm |
Shannon, thank you! It’s great to hear from you. I missed seeing you at the Guild this summer. Hopefully next time. Blessings on your Solstice celebration—sounds lovely! Thanks so much for your words and your spirit.
December 19, 2011 at 10:32 pm |
Beautiful! We’ll be using your blessing at our Longest Night/Blue Christmas Service this Wednesday in our brand new congregation, Table of Grace, in Jefferson City, MO. Thanks for all that you do!
December 21, 2011 at 12:47 pm |
Thank you, Michelle! Oohhh, Table of Grace—what a wonderful name! I wish you and your new congregation many blessings as you share this service. Peace to you!
December 19, 2011 at 11:34 pm |
Hi Jan, thanks again for a thoughtful and deeply expressive blesing amongst other bits. I live in Australia, and was wondering do you have a southern hemisphere version of this longest night blessing that is more midsummer, longest day for us. Christmas Day for us this year is looking at 32 degrees celsius and storms…hot and humid.
Thanks again. Looking forward to next post.
Scott Finlay (Rev)
December 21, 2011 at 12:51 pm |
Hi, Scott—Many kind thanks for your words and for asking about a Longest Day blessing. I often think of folks in the southern hemisphere as the liturgical calendar unfolds. I don’t yet have a Longest Day blessing, but it’s on my list! I hope to work on it during the coming year.
Thank you again, and blessings to you and yours as you celebrate the Summer Solstice and Christmas.
December 21, 2011 at 12:56 pm |
P.S. Living in Florida, I can appreciate what it’s like to have a warm Christmas, as we sometimes do! Though usually not as high as 32 degrees celsius!
December 21, 2011 at 8:08 am |
Hi Jan,
What a beautiful blessing.
Sincerely, Mary
December 21, 2011 at 12:52 pm |
Thank you so much, Mary!
December 21, 2011 at 10:46 am |
thank you Jan for a quiet moment in the midst of this frenetic season! God bless you and Gary!
December 21, 2011 at 12:53 pm |
Ann! Thanks so much for your words—lovely to hear from you on this Advent day. Blessings to you and Marv and all your family!
December 21, 2011 at 12:05 pm |
We are having a Blue Christmas service on Thursday at River of Hope ELCA Lutheran in Hutchinson, Minnesota. Not sure what it is planned, but it is a joint service combining a Lutheran and a Methodist congregation. Someone else is having a bonfire along with their service as a symbol to let go of the things that bring them pain. Thanks, Jan.
December 21, 2011 at 12:58 pm |
Many thanks, Sandy! Blessings to you and your congregation as you host the Blue Christmas service.
December 21, 2011 at 12:50 pm |
Hi Jan,
I would like to share this blessing with my widows & widowers group, my church family and friends and family on Facebook.
Thank You, Mary
December 21, 2011 at 12:59 pm |
Thank you, Mary! I’m grateful to you for sharing the blessing and hope the words will offer some peace along the way. Blessings to you.
December 21, 2011 at 1:11 pm |
Thanks to a friend from out of state I’ve just seen this site. Today is my birthday and historically it hasn’t been an easy time. Lots of dark and people too busy to help me celebrate. The poem helped me today.
December 21, 2011 at 2:38 pm |
Thank you, Shirley. You share a birthday with my dad! I’m glad the poem helped. I wish you many blessings on your birthday and all the days to come.
December 21, 2011 at 3:14 pm |
Jan, I am grateful for your Solstice Blessing and your willingness to allow many of us to share it graciously with others. Today I shared your blessing with those in attendance at the midweek devotional service at the hospital where I serve as the chaplain. Thank you. May your celebrations today and this night be filled with love and grace, Bruce
December 21, 2011 at 6:10 pm |
Bruce, many kind thanks to you. Blessings in your ministry as a chaplain—I know that this season has a distinctive texture when experienced from the inside of a hospital. Peace to you and all whom you serve.
December 21, 2011 at 5:02 pm |
Jan – I’ll be using this blessing tonight at the close of our commemoration of St. Thomas the Apostle at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Medina, Ohio.
December 21, 2011 at 6:14 pm |
Thank you, Eric! Many blessings to you and your congregation as you celebrate tonight.
December 21, 2011 at 5:42 pm |
Hello Jan
I have just stumbled across your beautiful poem. What a gift it is. I’m going tonight to a Solstice Celebration and because of your willingness to share it, I’m going to print off your poem and take it along with me tonight to share with friends. Many thanks for these beautiful words. Janice
December 21, 2011 at 6:16 pm |
Janice, thanks so much for your words! I am enchanted by your website and delighted to know of your work. I feel much kinship with it.
Blessings as you participate in the Solstice Celebration this evening, and many kind thanks for sharing the poem with friends.
December 22, 2011 at 7:23 am
Good morning after the Solstice Jan. I read your beautiful poem last night at our Solstice Celebration. Thanks for being part of it. We all loved your poem and were touched by it.
And thanks for your kind words about my art. I also feel that kinship with your work.
December 22, 2011 at 12:03 am |
Oh, Jan. The art and the poem have moved me to tears tonight. So timely to my journey. Thank you for this gift beyond measure.
December 22, 2011 at 12:06 am |
Amber, thank you. I am grateful. I wish you blessings and peace this night and always.
December 22, 2011 at 1:21 am |
Thank you for this blessing Jan, I am blessed by it. I do struggle with this season, and this has deeply touched me.
December 30, 2011 at 5:06 pm |
Thank you, Sally! I am grateful. I wish you many blessings in this Christmas season and in the new year.
December 26, 2011 at 9:38 am |
Jan, this blessing was posted by a member of my gifting circle. At the time I had a friend in transition and this blessing is one that I read to her as a transitional piece for her to hear. She passed on Christmas Eve morning and I plan to read it at her memorial. Thank You
December 30, 2011 at 5:13 pm |
Dee, thank you so much for the beautiful gift of your words. I am sorry about the death of your friend and wish you and her community many blessings as you grieve and remember and celebrate her life. Thank you for letting me know how you shared the blessing with her; I am tremendously grateful for, and moved by, your thoughtfulness.
Peace to you as we move into the new year! Thank you again.
December 29, 2011 at 7:06 pm |
Thank you, Jan, for a wonderful blessing so generously shared. I have passed it on through a blog post to the professional helpers and family caregivers who follow my site and, more personally, to a dear friend and his wife who are sharing their last winter season together. Blessings on you and your healing work.
December 30, 2011 at 5:16 pm |
Jan, many kind thanks to you for your words and for sharing the blessing. I am grateful to you. I wish you many blessings as we enter the new year, and blessings also to your friend and his wife. Thank you again.
November 27, 2012 at 11:58 am |
I will be using this poem at our Blue Christmas service on December 16, 2012 in Huntsville, TX. Your image of the blessing “gathering itself” has given me the image I needed for the sermon as well. Thanks for sharing your bounty with us all.
December 20, 2012 at 12:11 pm |
Thank you for permission to use your “Blessing for the Longest Night”. I am sharing it in a Blue Christmas service in a rural congregation in Saskatchewan Canada.
December 20, 2012 at 10:42 pm |
This is a wonderful poem. We do not have a longest night service, but I am going to save it in hope that it may happen some day. Thank you for permission to use it, and I will definitely credit you, should that day ever come.
December 22, 2012 at 1:23 am |
Tonight on this cold, dark winter solstice of 2012, when doomsdayers have been predicting the end of the world, it is the end of the world for all the families who lost their precious loved ones at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday.
I was searching for a comforting blessing to send out to all the grieving families and came across your beautiful blessing.
Thank you for sharing.
December 22, 2012 at 8:16 pm |
Maybe this blessing is needed even more this year. Thanks. Merry Christmas to you.
December 19, 2013 at 2:58 am |
Jan, this is so powerfully beautiful. You have been in my prayers and will remain there.
While my church won’t be offering this kind of service, I am the person who composes the weekly prayer intentions for liturgy. I always consciously try to include prayers for those whom the holidays can be a challenge or struggle.
God bless you.
December 19, 2013 at 7:31 am |
Thanks for sharing this beautiful blessing Jan. It’s an especially hard season for many I know this year.
December 19, 2013 at 11:42 am |
Thank you for your permission to use your blessing. We are printing it as a bookmark to be included in the bulletin for our Blue Christmas Worship at First Presbyterian Church, Grapevine. We pray that you words will be a continued blessing for the dark nights still ahead.
December 19, 2013 at 1:09 pm |
Hello, I just found this posted on a friend’s page. I am a therapist, and I am working with a woman facing deep pain from her past. Sometimes she is almost without hope. Sometimes she fears there will be no dawn. I just sent her this poem. It speaks to me of hope that does not deny the darkness. Thank you for your work!
December 19, 2013 at 7:20 pm |
Thank you for this lovely, comforting blessing, I am service leading this Sunday at the First Unitarian Church in Hamilton Ontario and I will use this during our meditation for joys and concerns….
Beautiful!
December 19, 2013 at 9:29 pm |
I am a member of a group of 10 students of the Alexander Technique, and we have shared wonderful moments together over three years of training. Today we heard that one of our dear members lost his mother and I will be offering these words to him from the group. They are so perfect for this occasion, tragic loss in the midst of the joys of Christmas. Thank you for these wonderful words!
December 21, 2013 at 7:36 am |
Though I do not know you, I pray for you as you walk the journey of grief. Widowed myself, I know it is a club none of us wishes to join.
Blessings……
December 24, 2013 at 11:42 pm |
I always love Solstice, but have experienced it in a personal way. Your blessing was a reminder that I need to reach out and share it with others through words of inspiration and joy. Thank you for bringing your blessing to my experience as I want to plan to be more proactive next year in relating to others during this time.
December 11, 2014 at 5:14 pm |
Jan, I encountered this blessing (with attribution) on some other site a year ago, but just now have come across your blog. I used this Blessing for the Longest Night toward the end of the Blue Christmas service I crafted and led on December 20, 2013 at Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Springfield IL. In the printed order of service was the name of the blessing and attribution of authorship.
Though she had practiced and practiced, the reader was choked up reading it. Just enough that the emotion was palpable without breaking the delivery. Everyone was as moved by the blessing as the reader was. Thank you so very much for sharing your gift and your blessings.
December 22, 2014 at 12:35 am |
Thanks, Jan.
“So believe me when I tell you this blessing will reach you even if you have not light enough to read it; it will find you even though you cannot see it coming…”.
I needed to hear this this season, and am thankful for your words….
God bless,
cb
November 16, 2015 at 10:10 am |
Jan,
This is just what I was looking for to conclude our Blue Christmas Service at Memorial Lutheran in Nevada, Iowa this year. Thank you for sharing it.
November 24, 2015 at 8:32 pm |
Your words are always so beautiful and meaningful. We’ll be using this at our 2015 Longest Night Service.
December 19, 2015 at 9:30 am |
Hi Jan, your words are so beautiful. I love the image of blessing having a soul, an intention. I shared your Longest Night poem with a close friend, who is grieving the loss of her husband earlier this year. Thank you again for sharing your art, and for all you bring forth.
December 20, 2015 at 12:19 am |
My husband died on November 21st this year. Your post put into words so much of what I am experiencing. It gives me the courage and hope to remain in the darkness of this journey knowing that God is with me, loving, healing and caring for me in my grief.
December 21, 2015 at 10:00 am |
Many thanks Jan… it’s a beautiful poem and I’ll be using it at St. Lambert United (Qc) at the end of tomorrow night’s Blue Christmas/Longuest Night Service.
December 21, 2015 at 11:30 am |
This is so beautiful– and thanks for sharing. I’ll use it tonight in our 35th annual Winter Solstice ritual service at First Universalist Church in Minneapolis.
December 21, 2015 at 1:41 pm |
I’ll be reading your poem tonight at http://nurturingspace.ca/events/solsticesounds/
I’m going to try to broadcast it on Periscope live.
December 21, 2015 at 4:58 pm |
This is beautiful. My mother died yesterday, and this is very nourishing on a day when I am not able to attend the Longest Night Service in the church I serve. I did email it to them to put on an insert for the bulletin – it spoke to me. Thank you.
December 22, 2015 at 4:59 pm |
Lovely blessing. Thank you for this.
December 25, 2015 at 12:10 am |
What a gift to find you
Resonance is healing
Thank you
Clare
November 15, 2016 at 6:23 pm |
Dear Jan,
Just found this blessing while browsing. It’s lovely. We’ll be using it in our Solstice service this December. Thanks for the open use invitation.
Blessings!
November 17, 2016 at 4:05 pm |
Thank you for this beautiful and moving blessing. I plan to use it in a Longest Night service at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, IA.
December 19, 2016 at 3:31 pm |
I will be reading this beautiful reading at our Solstice Potluck/Bonfire/Meditation on the 21st. This will be our 17th Solstice Gathering. Our bonfire will be in the Sacred Grove. (www.sacredceremoniesltd.org)
I am pleased to read what you have written. I met you years ago, in the late 90’s at a Women’s Church of the Brethren conference where you were the guest speaker.
December 20, 2016 at 7:18 am |
I have been posting a link to this page on Facebook for a couple of years now. I cannot thank you enough for this poem/blessing.
December 21, 2016 at 2:51 am |
Thank you for this, Jan, I’m going to forward it to a friend who is going through a really tough time. Blessings on you and yours Mary xx
December 11, 2017 at 7:19 pm |
Thank you in Love and Light ♡
December 18, 2017 at 12:44 pm |
Donna, many kind thanks! Blessings to you.
December 18, 2017 at 1:46 pm |
I will be reading this poem at the end of my winter solstice yoga class. Thank you for this lovely poem that I know will speak to everyone in the class. Namaste
December 18, 2017 at 10:57 pm |
Betty, how lovely! Thank you so much. Many blessings to you and to your yoga class.
December 21, 2017 at 3:42 am |
Dear Jan. Thanks again for your poetry and images. I have bought some of your work and it is all sitting at home in Canada while I live in Tokyo. However I have found myself 9n this longest night wanting to support some friends and worried about what trite thing migh come up when I typed i’poems in the longest night.’ What a thrill to get you longest night reflection. Hopefully a comfort to my friend whose sister just died and the friend who is struggling to be hopeful about the marriage he is struggling to keep his calm about, and find a way back to trust and intimacy after a crisis. Thank you again for your permission to use this. Shelley Stickel-Miles
December 23, 2017 at 10:53 pm |
such beautiful images and beautiful sentiment in your poem.
December 31, 2017 at 1:34 am |
Thank you for your poem “The Longest Night”. I saw it on a friend’s F.B. and have reposted it on my own page. We build hope and resilience together. Thank you for this great contribution.
January 3, 2018 at 6:57 pm |
Thank you again Jan for your words and images. We used this at St. Timothy in Geneseo New York. It spoke to me in a new way this year as I was carrying the grief of my mother’s death as I led the service. It is always one of my favorite evenings and with this as the end, I too knew that I was moving toward the dawn. Blessings
January 8, 2018 at 9:32 am |
Thank you Jan for the words you have so graciously shared with the world. They came into my life the day after my father passed on winter solstice and the words struck such a chord with me. They were read very beautifully by one of my father’s oldest friends at his memorial service. They will be words I wish to share (and credit you with) the rest of my life. Thank you for your your gift.
September 1, 2018 at 8:56 pm |
Hello, Jan
I am a parishioner at St. Francis in the Wood Anglican Church in West Vancouver, BC. Angus Stuart, our pastor, shared this in his weekly newsletter last December and I discovered it again when I was going through some file folders where I keep materials I want to use when I am doing the Sunday morning intercessions, called Prayers of the People in our church. I am doing prayers on December 16 and I asked Angus if I could use this as my concluding prayer and he asked only that I attribute it to you which I certainly will do. After prayers, people in the congregation often share with me how they experienced what I had to offer and I will certainly e mail you and let you know their responses. I, personally, was very, very moved by your wonderful blessing.
November 28, 2018 at 6:26 am |
Plan to say this at swinside stone circle, one of the most complete and remote circles on the sunrise of the winter solstice, just myself and 6 others, plus sheep,
December 18, 2018 at 12:26 pm |
I red your poem as a part of the Blue Christmas service at the church where I serve as Interim Pastor. It was deeply meaningful to us all. Thank you for this gift of your faith and talent.
December 23, 2018 at 5:10 pm |
We read this at our community’s solstice celebration for the 4th year now. Lovely. Thank you.
December 10, 2019 at 12:56 pm |
This is so beautiful. This was read as we opened our conscious aging group. Many thanks.
December 12, 2019 at 10:32 pm |
Sheila, thank you so much! That’s lovely to hear. Blessings to you!
December 12, 2019 at 10:52 am |
They read this poem at a contemplative service at our church, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. My wife of 32 years died in August and this season is indeed dark – thank you for reminding me that the dawn awaits.
December 12, 2019 at 10:35 pm |
Chris, I am so sorry about your wife’s death. I pray you will be met with much solace and many graces in this season and always. Thank you for the gift of your thoughtfulness. Blessings to you.
November 22, 2020 at 7:05 pm |
Including the poem in our December newsletter. Words of hope in a difficult time
Thanks.
December 20, 2020 at 9:12 pm |
Thank you kindly, Jennifer! Sending much gratitude and many blessings.
December 14, 2020 at 10:54 am |
This blessing is a wonderful resource for this time of year. I think it will make a perfect conclusion to our annual interfaith Blue Christmas service in Beverly, Mass.
December 20, 2020 at 9:14 pm |
Kind thanks, Manny! I’m grateful to you and your congregation for offering the Blue Christmas service. Many blessings to you and to them in these days.
December 18, 2020 at 12:50 pm |
Hello Jan. I am sending your wonderful poem to be read after a nation-wide phone call for a Monday Transcendental Meditation session. Several thousand folks will get to hear it. It will be a wonderful conclusion to our session on that day.
December 20, 2020 at 9:11 pm |
Thank you, Dan! That’s lovely to hear. Many blessings to you and all who will be involved in the session on the Winter Solstice!
December 18, 2020 at 1:59 pm |
P.S. And you’ll get attribution!
December 19, 2020 at 8:24 pm |
Thank you for this blessing, using it at the completion of
An intimate gathering of women for our first winter solstice zoom on Sunday night.
I
December 20, 2020 at 9:12 pm |
Sue, thank you! I’m grateful for your thoughtfulness. Many blessings to you and the women involved in the Zoom solstice gathering.
December 22, 2020 at 12:07 am |
Our community has experienced much loss and deep grief. Tonight, our church, First Presbyterian Church, Sioux Falls, offered a virtual Longest Night service. As a final benediction I read your Blessing (attributing the beautiful words to you). All who watched were sent out with hope. Thank you for blessing people who are exhausted and grieving after a brutal year. Your words made a difference in the lives of all that heard.
January 1, 2022 at 9:48 am |
Greetings, Jan: Your wonderful poem indeed has been a blessing to so many people. Thank you for generously sharing it with us. I was privileged to recite your words most recently in December 2021 for a virtual Christmas program presented by First United Methodist Church of East Greenbush, New York.