Blue Christmas
A Sacred Space
for the Burdened
Sunday, December 14, 2025
4 – 5:30pm EST
Suggested Donation: $25
At Dominican Center Marywood
“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.”
~ Oscar Wilde
The Christmas story reverberates with difficult realities–poverty, grief, danger, oppression, separation, and death–but we often don’t make room to acknowledge these. It is the same in our lives: we need to make room for the painful realities amidst and underlying the joys. We invite you to come and lay your burdens down in the sacred space of the Blue Christmas service where we find Jesus in our suffering and ourselves in Jesus.
We will be gathering contemplatively around a liturgy of Scripture and song, in Taizé style, that gathers our sorrows and lifts them to God. It is our hope that you will experience the welcome of your reality, however painful it is, in the presence of God, who suffered and suffers with us.
This is a Christmas service where your depression, grief, anger, and faintheartedness is welcomed. You may discover yourself with Jesus in the thrum of melancholy that surrounds Jesus’ birth. You, too, can come to the manger, poor as you feel.
Jesus wept.
John 11:35
We will not be sharing our stories with each other in order to maintain the space as one where we can let ourselves be known by God without anxiety as to how another will receive us. However, we also know that some of you will come desiring to share your story with someone, needing someone to listen. We will have Spiritual Directors available afterward to listen, with whom you can set up additional times to meet if you wish. Spiritual Direction is another sacred space where your whole self and whole experience of life is welcome, where pain, burdens, and grief are “allowed.” For more information on Spiritual Direction, follow this link.
Facilitator
Testimonials
Kimberley Mulder
Kimberley enjoys creating, coordinating, hosting, and facilitating spaces for people to encounter God, experience belovedness, and deepen faith. She received her Master’s of Divinity and Spiritual Direction Certificate from Portland Seminary, an ecumenical school grounded in Quaker and Evangelical roots. Her formation began in nature and family, the Christian Reformed Church, Canada, Ukraine, and the US, twenty-two years in a large multi-ethnic Vineyard church in Ohio, and her family of five.
She is a Spiritual Director, has led spiritual formation small groups, service projects, and prayer groups. She is a member of the Companioning Center where she participates as Spiritual Director and writer. A former teacher, refugee resettlement coordinator, and caterer, Kimberley has found God continually illuminating Life and Love in the particularities of her life.
”This evening gave me space and attention to grieve my husband's death last spring. Thank you.
”Because of my position as a minister, I never took time to grieve my Dad's death. I'm glad we didn't have to share because I couldn't speak.
”I didn't realize how much anger I have this time of year and that it's grief. The music and space gave me time to notice this.
Register
Dominican Center
1700 Fulton St. E
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Note: If you enter the street address, Google Maps shows the wrong building, but if you enter “Dominican Center at Marywood” it shows the correct building. Apple Maps shows the incorrect building with either search.
