Tag: grief
-
Seasons of Love
Reflections on Shuffle-Play Seasons of Love Rent Soundtrack I knew this song long before my mother died, but now all I think of when I hear it is her. The winter she died, as the days grew shorter and colder, I ran at night and cried my eyes out. “In truths that she learned, or…
-
Don’t Leave Me Breathing
(I wrote this on September 26, 2012 – about ten months after my mom’s death. Everything I wrote then felt too personal to share, but now after time has gone by it feels good to look back at the healing that has happened and also to remember how raw the grief was for so long.)…
-
Seeing the Miracle – Sermon from 6/5/16 – the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Before my Grandma Hetland’s funeral in 1984, the whole family gathered in the basement of our church while we waited for the pastor to come in and pray with us before we would be seated in the sanctuary. I was fourteen and in addition to me and my immediate family, there were tons of my…
-
Joe
I was not surprised when I heard Joe’s heart stopped beating. We all knew that his heart beat in time with Audrey’s heart and when she died a few months earlier, it seemed so had the spark of his own life. He spent the last few months journeying through the motions of his days. He…
-
Maundy Thursday
In many ways, this is the darkest night of the church year. One could argue that Good Friday is darker and more solemn as it closes with Christ in the tomb, all hope lost – and yet, I would argue that it is this evening, Maundy Thursday, when the darkness presses in most deeply –…
-
At Two Years
(Written November 1, 2013) For the last two years I have not preached on All Saints Sunday so being in the pulpit this coming Sunday feels like a big deal. Two years ago on All Saints my mother had just died – I was in Minnesota preparing for her funeral the next day. Then, last…
-
The Jewelry Box
The other night I remembered the jewelry box played music – the tinny notes it played had been part of its’ “magic” to me when I would admire it as a young girl. The box has been sitting in my bathroom since I brought it home from Minnesota a few months ago – Jesse likes…
-
Waffles and Coffee
No one knows what heaven will be like, but I know what I hope will happen first thing when I get there. I will sit down at my mom’s kitchen table and eat waffles that she is making for me on grandma’s waffle iron. When she’s used up all the batter and all the golden…
-
The Bell Tolled 91 Times
The church bell tolled ninety-one times this afternoon as we brought her out to the cemetery. The wind swept like a brush through the grass and picked up bits of dust, carrying it far off over the cedars and live oaks. “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” I said and sprinkled the…