The Gift of Grief

Immediately following the Sunday service, join us in Founder’s Hall for the first of a three part series for Adult & Youth Formation called “Grant Us a Holy Death.”

We all have experienced grief. So rather than trying to avoid it (spoiler alert: you can’t!), instead we’re going to get curious, and welcome it into our lives. We’ll talk about watching grief happen to others, and how to help them. We’ll also talk about what it feels like when we are the ones experiencing loss – whether it’s death, divorce, job loss, etc. We’ll learn that grief doesn’t shrink with time, but we grow around it instead.

Ah, grief, I should not treat you like a homeless dog
who comes to the back door for a crust, for a meatless bone.

I should trust you.

I should coax you into the house and give you your own corner,
a worn mat to lie on, your own water dish.

You think I don’t know you’ve been living under my porch.

You long for your real place to be readied before winter comes. 
You need your name, your collar, and tag. 

You need the right to warn off intruders,
to consider my house your own

and me your person
and yourself my own dog.

--Denise Levertov