Tag Archives: grief

Holy Saturday and the Harrowing of Hell

This is what I wrote for my Good Friday reflection in the collection put together by the Rev. Gayle Catinella on behalf of several members of clergy in the Diocese of Ohio:  O death, I will be thy plagues; O … Continue reading

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Things that I struggle with

Things that I struggle with, in no particular order: Unscrewing the lid from a new jar of pickles. Unravelling tangled yarn chewed by the cat. Understanding the holy mystery of the empty tomb. Untying the umbilical cords that bind us … Continue reading

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Waving goodbye

Whenever we left she wept, never knowing which time would be the last. (Sometimes, poetry is simply laying the ghosts out in the daylight.)

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Rites of passage

My mother’s funeral did not take place in an American high school auditorum, neither was the local rag reporter in attendance. No one wore football pads or swimming gear; I was not in clericals, being unordained as yet, and having … Continue reading

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Collect for the anniversary of a death

Almighty God, whose memory is longer than time; we remember especially today your daughter N. Grant us patience, peace, healing and hope as remember good times and bad; so that even our grief may become an instrument of your grace. … Continue reading

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The fragmentation of grief

Death breaks more than the body. This morning, I came home to an email – because that’s how we’re doing it now – to say that my Auntie Joyce had died. It was not unexpected, and in many ways I … Continue reading

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Year B: Last Sunday after the Epiphany

When I told my youngest child that my mother had died, she said, “But she was supposed to get better!” A week or so later, when I was talking to my father about talking to an old friend, he asked, … Continue reading

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Saints and other stories

Is anyone using the lectionary for Pentecost 27 this Sunday? Everywhere I look, we are celebrating All Saints (which is meet and proper). Still, I thought that this Sunday’s readings deserved some prayerful attention, and found in the epistle for … Continue reading

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