19th December 2025

BLUE CHRISTMAS 2025

There are times when you get the same message twice. I came across this from Paul Lavender, the minister of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Northampton, the day after Sam’s sermon last Sunday. I have edited it a little for length. Many thanks to Paul.

Christmas speaks most clearly to those who feel closest to despair, because its message begins in the darkness rather than denying it.

The first Christmas did not arrive in a season of peace or prosperity. It came to a people living under oppression, uncertainty, and long silence. Into that reality, God did not send an explanation for suffering or a command to “try harder.” He sent a child. The incarnation tells us that God chose to enter human fragility from the inside. Emmanuel – “God with us” – is not a slogan of optimism but a declaration of presence.

For those struggling with despair, this matters profoundly. Despair often says, “You are alone. Your pain is unseen. Nothing will change.” Christmas contradicts that. The manger proclaims that God sees what the world overlooks. The shepherds, ignored by society, are the first witnesses. Mary, confused and afraid, is entrusted with God’s promise. Joseph, burdened and uncertain, is given just enough light for the next step. Christmas hope is not loud or triumphant; it is quiet, resilient, and near.

The child in the manger grows up to be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. God’s answer to despair is not distance but solidarity. In Christ, God enters our suffering and carries it all the way through death – and beyond it. That is why Christmas hope is not fragile. It is anchored in God’s faithfulness, not in our circumstances or emotional strength.

For those who feel numb, exhausted, or overwhelmed, Christmas does not demand cheerfulness. It offers companionship. It promises that despair does not get the final word. Light has entered the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Christmas hope may begin small – like a candle, like a child, like a whispered prayer – but it is real. And because God has come near, even the deepest despair is no longer empty of God’s presence. That is good news worth holding onto, especially when holding on feels hard, because God is always holding on to us.

(Nick Parsons)