Thursday, May 18, 2017

grief does not end; neither does healing

This week at the Festival of Homiletics has been amazing—deep, rich, challenging, and so much more. I have met new people. Last night, a new friend from England and I continued sharing talk and stories. We had been brought together during an impromptu prayer time in response to an incredibly vulnerable and healing sermon by Nadia Bolz-Weber. My friend is a newish priest in the Church of England, working fulltime in publishing, and caring for her husband who had a stroke a few years ago. I shared a bit about my journey with Jeff through his cancer and death.

Today, as the prayers of the morning were shaped around a poem by John O’Donahue, I found tears of grief winding their way down my cheeks, praying that Jeff has found healing, and thankful for random moments of healing for me. I also prayed for other relationships where conflict has seared “the ground between,” that I may be gracious and able to find reconciliation in carrying the “chalice of our love.”


As there is no place where God is not, grace abounds in the words, in the silence, in the holding, in the letting go, in the broken heart, in the healing heart, and every where we can see.

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