The Longest Night Service
About This Event
Join us for the Longest Night (Advent 4) service on December 21. We'll be using "Bless This Night," a new vespers service created for Holden Village. We'll honor twilight, dusk, night and darkness as times of blessing and renewal in our lives, as we look with hope to the promise of God-with-us. We’re pleased that this service will be the Midwest premiere of the new setting! Feel free to invite a friend. Cider and cookies will be served afterwards, a gift of Holden hospitality.
Location:
Date:
December 21, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Age:
Event Information:
Advent is a time of waiting, a time of getting ready. We light candles on an Advent wreath to mark time, and we try to slow down as the world tells us to hurry up. We sing songs of heartfelt longing, and we read scripture that speaks of a God who makes a way when there is no way.
The season of Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas Day, and it lasts between three and four weeks, depending on the year’s calendar. About once every seven years (give or take), Advent 4 falls on Christmas Eve, and the season is particularly short. This is one of those years when we move swiftly from Advent 4 to Christmas Eve.
Because the transition from Advent 4 to Christmas is so quick, we’re going to gather on December 21, the Longest Night, and take time to light the fourth candle and lean into the Advent readings. We’ll use, “Bless This Night,” a new vespers service that was created for Holden Village. It’s a lovely, musical setting that seeks to honor twilight, dusk, night, and darkness as times of blessing and renewal. We’ll sing the service at both the Minneapolis and Minnetonka campuses, and it will be livestreamed. We’re pleased that this service will be the Midwest premiere of the new setting! Feel free to invite a friend. Cider and cookies will be served afterwards, a gift of Holden hospitality.
Minneapolis Campus:
4100 Lyndale Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55409
Minnetonka Campus:
16023 Minnetonka Blvd.
Minnetonka, MN 55345
Image credit: "FOR THOSE IN DARKNESS” by Lauren Wright Pittman