Thursday, May 31, 2007

Grace In Time of Need

A Pastoral Letter To the Woodlawn Chapel Community

Earlier this week, a young woman known to many in this church died unexpectedly. Like any tragedy, it left many people feeling lost, confused, grieving. Our hearts were suddenly burst open in by the awkward blows of grief: overwhelmed with sadness, tears, frustration; but also filled with compassion and concern for Wendy's family.

It is in these moments that we stumble along in faith, feeling perhaps as though God doesn't care or even that God has stopped caring. Grief hits us like the nonstop push of tides along the ocean's coastline. It brushes against us, pulling us to a new place, dislocating us temporarily until we can regain our balance. Who is there to care? Who will walk with us? What will we say to those who are grieving?

"Do not neglect to meet together," wrote the author of Hebrews. Surely he knew something about the nature of grief. In other words, just showing up is very important. The tendency is to pull away from others in our sadness, to want to be alone. While grieving is very individualized, and it is good to be alone, it is also value in being together. "Bear one another's burdens," wrote the apostle Paul, reminding us that we fulfill the laws of Christ, that we love each other most fully when we learn to share our burdens in community. This is what we can offer each other in the church: a place where grace can be shared, where God's love can be felt.

Henri Nouwen once wrote, "When I reflect on my own life, I realize that the moments of greatest comfort and consolation were moments when someone said, 'I cannot take your pain away, I cannot offer you a solution for your problem, but I can promise you that I won't leave you alone and will hold on to you as long and as well as I can. There is much grief and pain in our lives, but what a blessing it is when we do not have to live our grief and pain alone."

Be the church...together! May God's peace be with us all in this time of grief. -- Chris