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A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing, by Rosalind C Hughes, is available from Upper Room Books.
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Tag Archives: grief
Living stones
Have you ever wandered through an old graveyard, reading the tombstones, wondering about the stories that they tell? Most give little away. Many speak names, dates, perhaps a close relationship or two. … Stones have little space for ambiguity or nuance. They are hard-nosed, they get straight to the point. They do not give up extra flourishes easily. “Well loved” is the kind of distillation of a life they can support. Names, dates, and one salient detail to sum up the measure of a man, or a mother. Continue reading
When we can’t see the end of the story
It can feel sometimes as though Jesus has withdrawn to the backwaters of Galilee, , and we do not know when we will see him again, nor whether he will come with whips and cords to clean out the temples of power, or even our own house; or whether he will come in chains, bowed down by the burdens of the principalities that still oppose the reign of God, its justice, its mercy, its peace; or whether he will come in glory, a light to shine the world toward salvation. Continue reading
Underwater Jesus
Today is a heavy travel day here in the US. For many, a trip home brings feelings of relief and deep joy. For others, the air is electric with anxiety and dangers. For some, there is no going home, only the wilderness wandering within sight but not touch of the Promised Land. For not a few, the opening of the holiday season begins a pilgrimage to the abyss of grief. Continue reading
Posted in prayer, story
Tagged grief, Psalm 130:1, submerged statues, Thanksgiving, underwater Jesus
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All Souls
O eternal Lord God, who holdest all souls in life … (Book of Common Prayer, 202) Continue reading
Posted in Holy Days, spiritual autobiography
Tagged All Souls, ensoulment, grief, miscarriage, pregnancy loss
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Book Review: Dessert First – Preparing for Death while Savoring Life, by J. Dana Trent
So why does a book about death and grieving have such an odd title? Death is coming for each of us, so we might as well embrace our mortal life and enjoy it, grief and all, with all of its sweetness, tartness, and saltiness. Continue reading
Posted in book review
Tagged chaplaincy, death, funeral, grief, J. Dana Trent, life, memoir, ritual, theology
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Fridays are for mortality
The choice of incarnation, an island carved out of immortality, implies that God is not immune to hard weeks. Continue reading
Posted in prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged birdsong, death, grief, immortality, Trinity Sunday
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Bright cloud
There are those bright clouds in which we recognize God’s presence already among us, working in us and through us as we struggle to do the right thing, even when the way is obscure and foggy, even when we are terrified, even when we confronted with anger, grief, failure. The way of the cross is not an easy road, but it does lead to deliverance, to freedom from unclean spirits, eventually to resurrection. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged grief, Jesus, justice, LGBTQ, Transfiguration, UMC
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Mary’s first Christmas
The first Christmas after he died, she spent the dawn remembering that night in Bethlehem, and the stars, and the straw. Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, story
Tagged Blue Christmas, Christmas, grief, Jesus, Mary, Resurrection
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When the heavens open
And Jesus: little, embryonic, speck of Jesus; what does he see, from such a soft and secret place? What does he know, from such a small beginning? Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, Holy Days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged Blue Christmas, Christmas, grief, heaven, infant, loss, pregnancy loss, the visitation
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