A Christian View of Death

"Conflicted" is the word Liz used to describe her feelings this past week. Others in her ladies' class this morning agreed. Should we celebrate a life well lived or grieve the loss of one we loved? Is it even possible to do both at the same time?

My objective this morning was to give people "permission" to grieve. Lamenting, it seems, is now often viewed as a lack of faith. May we all learn to grieve, but not to grieve like those who have no hope.

I was touched this morning when Ben became a bit emotional talking about our church. Emotions can be the window into one's soul. It's great to have a Shepherd who is moved when speaking about those who have served well. It was also good to have our newest Shepherd, Gilbert, give our homily before the Lord's Supper. I know he had worked a long time to put all the images together to go with his thoughts. The NASA presentation had to be the most moving part of the entire service. To see how much those astronauts loved Paula Hall was touching.