Free Resources
Longest Night Service will be held on Zoom December 21, 2023, 7:00-7:45pm CST. Register through Wisdom Tree Collective.
Videos
Click "play" above for The Longest Night Service on December 21st, 2021.
A downloadable version to share with your community is available for free by contacting Kasey.
Click "play" below for the The Longest Night Service held on December 21st, 2020.
A downloadable version to share with your community is available for free by contacting Kasey.
Click "play" below for the The Longest Night Service held on December 21st, 2020.
To light a candle (at any time of the year) in memory of a loved one or on behalf of a longing you hold for yourself or world, go here.
May you experience the peace of Christ with you in the longest of nights.
May you experience the peace of Christ with you in the longest of nights.
Liturgy/Sample Service
The Longest Night of the Year Service
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A Longest Night of the Year Service is a deeply meaningful way a church can companion those who struggle during the holiday season as well as acknowledge the pain experienced by many world-wide. With the Winter Solstice literally being the longest night of the year it provides a natural opportunity for such a gathering. Here's a sample of the service we have offered at Providence Church (you're welcome to use it with appropriate attribution): Preparing the Space You want an inviting space. This might be a small sanctuary or a large space warmed by dimmed lights and candles. Said one person of our space, “It's comforting, like a hug.” You need to keep it simple. Have a stark, but lit advent wreath, along with some artwork that goes with the theme on or around an altar table. Set out tea lights for the end of the service. Opening Music Create a contemplative atmosphere. Instrumental music helps people settle into the space. My husband, Russ Hitt, has played Coventry Carol and We Three Kings at the beginning. He created the album, The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing, to make it possible for any church to offer a Longest Night Service. It is also available before and after the service to companion people throughout the entire holiday season. Welcome Give the pastor a break. Spiritual directors, Stephen Ministers or lay leaders can offer pastors the enjoyment of simply attending by leading the service. A welcome such as this one can be offered by one or more leaders, making changes according to when the service is held around the solstice: |
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Leader 1: Today was the shortest day and tonight will be longest night of the year. At noon if you'd have glimpsed your shadow it, too, would've been the longest one all year.
While we're in the midst of a season of great joy & light, for many of us in this room and in this world, it feels more like a season of great darkness and shadows.
(Leader 2 references Advent candles & Leader 1 blows out each when prompted about their disappearance)
Leader 2: While others are experiencing the light of hope, peace, joy, and love, we may feel as though our hope has gone, our peace extinguished, our joy snuffed out, and love vanished.
Yet we don't have to be alone in our darkness tonight.
We're here together.
And we can honestly be here, for God has promised to meet us and welcomes us just as we are.
Leader 1: Let's read aloud the prayer on the program together...
Communal Prayer
Pray aloud together. Here is a prayer I wrote that you are welcome to use:
God, we bring to You our grief-- our own and the grief of others in the world. Although we may know You are with us as much in the dark as in the light, we admit we often feel left in the dark--alone, angry and fearful. Remind us tonight as You have reminded all people through all ages that You are Emmanuel, God-with-us. You join us and continue loving us in our loneliness, anger and fear. May we allow You to be with us, to be our Provider, Healer, Comforter and Friend in the darkest of times. Amen.
Voices from Scripture
Listen to Scriptural laments. Before the service, assign readings to different people who will read from their seats scattered throughout the congregation. Tell them to allow a bit of pause between each one.
After the communal prayer, transition to the readings by saying, “Now hear these voices from Scripture...”
Cried the Psalmist,
“My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:3)
Through his tears he said,
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again--
my Savior and my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you...
(Psalm 42:5-6a)
Cried Jeremiah,
Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
(Lamentations 3:17-18)
Through his tears he said,
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him! (Lamentations 3:21-24)
Jesus from the cross when darkness came over the land cried out Psalm 22:1,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 33-35)
To his friends soon to be frightened and full of tears, he said,
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you:
I am going away, but I will come back to you again.” (John 14:27-28a)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
in this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
And in the end says the book of Revelation,
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
All these things are gone forever (Revelation 21:4)
Music and Prayer
Give space to reflect. Playing a song right after the readings invites the Voices of Scripture to further companion us. Russ plays “What Child is This?”
Engage the imagination. After the song, a leader walks people through a guided prayer imagining Jesus actually being Emmanuel right now...
Closing your eyes, imagine Jesus coming into this room.
He sees you and makes His way over to you.
Notice how Jesus chooses to sit, stand or kneel.
What is it that He wants to offer you right now?
Simply allow Him to be with you however He chooses.
Whether words, a facial expression, a gesture or simply His presence,
allow yourself to be with Jesus in the silence for a moment then I will say Amen.
Music and Words
Give more space to reflect. Remember the holiday rush leaves little space, so you're going to be generous with this gift! You might choose to do an instrumental version of a hymn or song beloved by your congregation, a Christmas song like Silent Night or The Longest Night, or a song with lyrics, like Russ Hitt's Some of Us or Rich Mullins' Hard to Get.
Prepare for Darkness & Light. Following the song, a leader says some words about the last portion of the service. Here is an example:
You will be invited to sit for a time in darkness and silence acknowledging your loss, your separation, your confusion or that which is being experienced by others. The darkness and silence may feel a little uncomfortable at first. Darkness and silence can be scary no matter what our age. Yet it is our prayer tonight that we can begin to feel the silence as God's invitation to rest and be still, and we can begin to experience the darkness around us as the embrace of God—a God who is present—maybe even more powerfully in our pain, and a God who promises that it will not be dark forever.
Tomorrow there will be just a little more light than today. You may not have noticed, but slowly spring will come again. May it be the same way as God brings the light of hope into your life, into our world.
After a time of silence and darkness, we will light the candle which represents the presence of Christ. You are then invited, when ready, to come forward and light your own candle on behalf of yourself or someone else. You may wish to write down your sadness or what you are longing for and leave it on the altar table. You're welcome to pray at the altar bench, as well as have someone pray for you.
There will be no formal ending to this evening. Take the time and space you need.
Darkness & Light
Enter into the darkness. Have someone turn off the lights and let everyone sit in silent darkness for at least one solid minute. Don't rush this part. Just as we often feel uncomfortable with lament, we often feel the same about silence and darkness.
Embrace the awkwardness.
Receive the light of Christ. As O Come, O Come Emmanuel begins to play a leader makes her way to the front to light the Christ Candle. People then come whenever ready to light a candle on behalf of the person or the struggle that is on their hearts. They can also write down and leave the remembrance on the altar. Some may choose to pray at the front, to return to their seats for quiet reflection or simply leave in silence. O Come, O Come Emmanuel continues until lit candles and an empty room are all that remain.
While we're in the midst of a season of great joy & light, for many of us in this room and in this world, it feels more like a season of great darkness and shadows.
(Leader 2 references Advent candles & Leader 1 blows out each when prompted about their disappearance)
Leader 2: While others are experiencing the light of hope, peace, joy, and love, we may feel as though our hope has gone, our peace extinguished, our joy snuffed out, and love vanished.
Yet we don't have to be alone in our darkness tonight.
We're here together.
And we can honestly be here, for God has promised to meet us and welcomes us just as we are.
Leader 1: Let's read aloud the prayer on the program together...
Communal Prayer
Pray aloud together. Here is a prayer I wrote that you are welcome to use:
God, we bring to You our grief-- our own and the grief of others in the world. Although we may know You are with us as much in the dark as in the light, we admit we often feel left in the dark--alone, angry and fearful. Remind us tonight as You have reminded all people through all ages that You are Emmanuel, God-with-us. You join us and continue loving us in our loneliness, anger and fear. May we allow You to be with us, to be our Provider, Healer, Comforter and Friend in the darkest of times. Amen.
Voices from Scripture
Listen to Scriptural laments. Before the service, assign readings to different people who will read from their seats scattered throughout the congregation. Tell them to allow a bit of pause between each one.
After the communal prayer, transition to the readings by saying, “Now hear these voices from Scripture...”
Cried the Psalmist,
“My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:3)
Through his tears he said,
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again--
my Savior and my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you...
(Psalm 42:5-6a)
Cried Jeremiah,
Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
(Lamentations 3:17-18)
Through his tears he said,
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him! (Lamentations 3:21-24)
Jesus from the cross when darkness came over the land cried out Psalm 22:1,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 33-35)
To his friends soon to be frightened and full of tears, he said,
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you:
I am going away, but I will come back to you again.” (John 14:27-28a)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
in this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
And in the end says the book of Revelation,
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
All these things are gone forever (Revelation 21:4)
Music and Prayer
Give space to reflect. Playing a song right after the readings invites the Voices of Scripture to further companion us. Russ plays “What Child is This?”
Engage the imagination. After the song, a leader walks people through a guided prayer imagining Jesus actually being Emmanuel right now...
Closing your eyes, imagine Jesus coming into this room.
He sees you and makes His way over to you.
Notice how Jesus chooses to sit, stand or kneel.
What is it that He wants to offer you right now?
Simply allow Him to be with you however He chooses.
Whether words, a facial expression, a gesture or simply His presence,
allow yourself to be with Jesus in the silence for a moment then I will say Amen.
Music and Words
Give more space to reflect. Remember the holiday rush leaves little space, so you're going to be generous with this gift! You might choose to do an instrumental version of a hymn or song beloved by your congregation, a Christmas song like Silent Night or The Longest Night, or a song with lyrics, like Russ Hitt's Some of Us or Rich Mullins' Hard to Get.
Prepare for Darkness & Light. Following the song, a leader says some words about the last portion of the service. Here is an example:
You will be invited to sit for a time in darkness and silence acknowledging your loss, your separation, your confusion or that which is being experienced by others. The darkness and silence may feel a little uncomfortable at first. Darkness and silence can be scary no matter what our age. Yet it is our prayer tonight that we can begin to feel the silence as God's invitation to rest and be still, and we can begin to experience the darkness around us as the embrace of God—a God who is present—maybe even more powerfully in our pain, and a God who promises that it will not be dark forever.
Tomorrow there will be just a little more light than today. You may not have noticed, but slowly spring will come again. May it be the same way as God brings the light of hope into your life, into our world.
After a time of silence and darkness, we will light the candle which represents the presence of Christ. You are then invited, when ready, to come forward and light your own candle on behalf of yourself or someone else. You may wish to write down your sadness or what you are longing for and leave it on the altar table. You're welcome to pray at the altar bench, as well as have someone pray for you.
There will be no formal ending to this evening. Take the time and space you need.
Darkness & Light
Enter into the darkness. Have someone turn off the lights and let everyone sit in silent darkness for at least one solid minute. Don't rush this part. Just as we often feel uncomfortable with lament, we often feel the same about silence and darkness.
Embrace the awkwardness.
Receive the light of Christ. As O Come, O Come Emmanuel begins to play a leader makes her way to the front to light the Christ Candle. People then come whenever ready to light a candle on behalf of the person or the struggle that is on their hearts. They can also write down and leave the remembrance on the altar. Some may choose to pray at the front, to return to their seats for quiet reflection or simply leave in silence. O Come, O Come Emmanuel continues until lit candles and an empty room are all that remain.
| Longest Night program with Quotes & Scriptures for 2017 |
| Reflections using song lyrics, quotes, Scripture and poetry for each song on The Longest Night album |
