A new version of “Blue Christmas” hit the charts this month, sixty-five years after Elvis Presley’s popular rendition. Christmas is blue (the idea goes) when we are without the person we love. “I’ll have a blue Christmas without you.”

Some churches now offer “Blue Christmas” services. One church advertised their service like this: “a space for those not feeling so merry & bright during the holidays.” The church offers “a space where you can be still and quiet and not have to pretend to be jolly.”

It’s well meaning, responding to the cultural demand we put on a veneer of gaiety. Happy holidays! And if they’re not happy for you, at least pretend.

The assumption is that the big Christmas service—which here at Immanuel is this one—is merry and bright and doesn’t really offer anything for the losers: the people whose lives are difficult, and lonely, and painful.

But that’s not Christmas. Christmas is for losers….