The Sacred Work of Grief, Part 4: Sharing Grief in Community

Resources:

Resources for Longest Night / Blue Christmas Worship (Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod)

Grief Watch (grief ministry, including ceramic ornaments to honor the loss of loved ones)

Pacific Healing Circles (Coalition of grief tenders creating Zoom rituals available to the public)

Everything Happens: A Podcast with Kate Bowler (most episodes include sharing and processing grief)

2019 Longest Night order of service (Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran, Stevenson, WA)

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“In the desert of the Kalahari, the people known as the !Kung regularly gather to tend their community by holding an all-night healing ritual. Sometimes the ritual is called because someone is ill or has suffered a loss. At other times, it is part of the ongoing maintenance of the people. At least four times a month, they gather to care for the needs of the people….Imagine the feeling of relief that would flood our whole being if we knew that when we were in the grip of sorrow or illness, our village would respond to our need. This would not be out of pity, but out of a realization that every one of us will take our turn at being ill, and we will need one another.” — Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow

As 2020 comes to a close...as we move toward the longest night of the year...as we enter into the holiday season...as cases of Covid-19 continue to skyrocket...we cannot help but acknowledge the deep well of grief rising up all around us and in so many of us. Yet how will we acknowledge, honor, and release our grief during the pandemic? What spaces can we find? What spaces can we create?

In this session (4 of 6), we welcome back Rev. Solveig Nilsen-Goodin to talk about the importance of sharing grief in community, even when we are physically separated from one another. She will give examples of ways to hold space for grief via Zoom and invite us into a brief embodied grief practice.