A coalition of churches in the Carroll area is hosting its annual “Blue Christmas” service this weekend.
Reverend Terry Plocher is pastor of the United Methodist Church in Carroll, where the event will be held Saturday, December 11.
“Anyone might find themselves in a place where they’re grieving during the holiday season, where they find that they’re sad or blue and this is for everybody,” he says. “It’s not just for people of a particular church or people of a particular denomination.”
Plocher says the service aims to provide a quiet time of reflection for people experiencing a loss.
“It is a difficult time for people who have lost someone they love or I like to emphasize other losses as well — losing a job, losing the opportunity to do some of the things they wanted to do. losing a dream,” he says. “Those things are all hard on us come the holidays.”
Plocher says the holiday season can be difficult for people who are grieving or have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
“All around them are these lights and people having fun and the parties and people smiling and cards and they just don’t feel it,” Plocher says. “It’s just not there for them and whatever the reason for that is, whether it’s a biological cause or if it’s a situational cause after the death of a loved one or the loss of a job or something, we want to let them know that it’s o.k. to feel however you feel at Christmas time, during the holidays.”
The Carroll County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and two funeral homes in Carroll are co-sponsors of what has become an annual event. This year’s “Blue Christmas” service in Carroll will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
(By Nathan Konz, KCIM, Carroll)