As we enter into the season of the Holidays, we find a system with a lot of joy, but as we get older, we also start to feel grief. So much of the Holiday season is designed to recall the joy of the past, but with each song, each meal, each moment, we also get reminded of the things that changed, of the faces that aren’t with us anymore.
Grief is a part of life, an act of love. But in a time when we feel almost obligated to be happy, the grief of what has been lost can become almost overwhelming in its scope.
Grief is pain that, in my opinion, cannot be hidden, or locked up. It is a wound that can only heal by being permitted to bleed. Starting with All Saints, and moving into the Holidays, I invite you to come with us on a journey that will, yes, find plenty of Joy, but that will also honor the grief that so many of us feel.
Because while yes, we want to provide that joy and happiness to the young ones, in showing them how we feel our grief, we also equip them to feel their own. And sometimes, that is the best Holiday gift we could ever give.
Pastor Dan