grief
-
Pandemic Prayers for Proper 19
Though I didn’t do anything with the text last week, I’m still thinking about the question Kathryn Matthews posed in her weekly musings in the United Church of Christ’s Sermon Seeds about the grieving parents in the Passover story. How… Continue reading
-
How Shall We Pray?
For the past several weeks, I’ve offered prayers as a gift to my colleagues in ministry who are serving faithfully during this pandemic. I’ve written liturgies following the Revised Common Lectionary that I have hoped were copied and pasted into… Continue reading
-
Pandemic Prayers for Easter 5A
I join the circle of preachers who have expressed their familiarity with this text at the graveside. It’s the Gospel Lesson I always choose when the family doesn’t steer me in another direction, not because of the many mansions or… Continue reading
-
Naming the Dead
On Friday, I attended a conversation hosted by the BTS Center called It’s Okay to Grieve. Allen Ewing-Merrill, the new Executive Director of this organization, is also a friend, He and his wife and sweet girls arrived in Maine while… Continue reading
-
Thirty Three Years Later
Last night, my baby girl couldn’t sleep. It has been many months since she was up every two hours but last night she returned to this familiar routine. She wasn’t always hungry. It seemed that she just wanted to know… Continue reading
-
An Expert In My Own Grief
Expert was the word that made me laugh in her email. I do not feel like an expert in anything. I’ve rather owned that pastors are the last generalists. We dabble in this and that. We have a lot of… Continue reading
-
Insistent Hope
It is the first Sunday of Advent and I sat in church. I sat in that pew with my baby bouncing on my lap to hear hope insisted upon. Maybe hope needs to come that way. Maybe it will only… Continue reading
-
Grief and Parenting, Part 5678
I didn’t take my daughters to my mother’s grave. I meant to. It was something that I intended to do while we were in the area for my sister’s wedding. My brother had even asked if we could go together.… Continue reading
-
Grief in the Midst of Joy
In just four days, it’ll be thirty-two years since she died. It will be thirty-two years since my mother died. I have to pull out a calculator every year to subtract from the current year. Surely, it hasn’t been that… Continue reading
-
Twinkly Lights in Blue Days
Jan Richardson lost her beloved husband Gary during Advent. It was more sudden than the wars and rumors of war that the gospel Mark hints it could be. Nobody saw it coming and the grief lingered for many more seasons.… Continue reading
Cooking with Elsa 