On the Sunday that we buried Dave, the sermon title was “It Matters What We Worship: A Case for Joy." I thought that I was not ready for a sermon on joy, just two days after I'd watched Dave take his last breath, but I was attending via Zoom and gave myself permission to log out if it was too much in the wrong direction. In that sermon, Rev. Erica Richmond talked about the need to welcome our whole selves, the need to recognize the sorrows that we are each holding, and the miracle that if we do that, somehow joy will also slip in through the door. I think the reverse is also true, that if we welcome joy with our whole hearts, then sorrow will also find its way in, and in allowing that, welcoming that, we live fully. It was exactly the sermon I needed that day.
Happy Birthday! I'm sorry that your father is dead and that your relationship was complicated by so many factors, but I celebrate the love that you held between you nonetheless and the love that surrounds you in sorrow and in joy.
On the Sunday that we buried Dave, the sermon title was “It Matters What We Worship: A Case for Joy." I thought that I was not ready for a sermon on joy, just two days after I'd watched Dave take his last breath, but I was attending via Zoom and gave myself permission to log out if it was too much in the wrong direction. In that sermon, Rev. Erica Richmond talked about the need to welcome our whole selves, the need to recognize the sorrows that we are each holding, and the miracle that if we do that, somehow joy will also slip in through the door. I think the reverse is also true, that if we welcome joy with our whole hearts, then sorrow will also find its way in, and in allowing that, welcoming that, we live fully. It was exactly the sermon I needed that day.
Happy Birthday! I'm sorry that your father is dead and that your relationship was complicated by so many factors, but I celebrate the love that you held between you nonetheless and the love that surrounds you in sorrow and in joy.