Tag Archives: loss

Lenten Devotion for March 30, 2023

Because of your grace, we are.

Because of your love, we act.

Because of your spirit, we pray.

Because of your gospel, we live.

Because of your presence, we worship.

Because of your welcome, we are transformed.

If it had not been for you, Lord,    

We would not be.

So it was, so it is, so it will be,

For now and forever. Amen

This prayer was part of the Good Courage devotion for today. I love its simplicity and its poetry. I take comfort in the impression it offers of God, who is present as the source of all we truly need, to become who we are truly meant to be.

What is less comfortable, and comforting, is the soft-voiced reminder that because of that constant Divine Presence, transformation is not only possible, it is more than likely inevitable, if I am to continue to grow into the something, that until its season, in the words of a favourite hymn is an unrevealed mystery that God alone can see.

As the hymn reminds us, transformation is a matter of life and death. The new life is born out of change and loss.

Lenten Devotion for March 29, 2023

There is a special place in northeast Japan, in Iwate Prefecture, where a man named Sasaki Itaru created something called the “wind phone”. It’s a telephone box, and inside there is an old black telephone, which is not connected to anything.

Thousands of people travel there to use the phone to speak to those they have lost.

The Wind Phone was set up not far from one of the cities in Japan devastated by a terrible tsunami in 2011.

It’s set in a garden, in a remote area. It is not easy to get there. Once you find the location, there are no signs to guide you to the phone box.

“It’s in the very act of wandering—losing yourself in the landscape, uncertain of where you are and when you’ll arrive—that people end up thinking about many things, reformulating their memories of the person they have lost. And it’s in this mood, a sort of meditation, that they encounter the Wind Phone. They get here in a fuller and more aware state. They are ready.”

“You need to get your own feelings in order before you can talk to someone else. You need to emerge from the tragedy, from the shell of pain you’ve been encased in. Those who come to the Wind Phone are already halfway there. They are ready to create a new relationship with the dead.”

I wonder if that’s one way to think about the work of grief- that we are creating a new relationship with the person who has died.

The quoted paragraphs are from this article:

How Japan’s Wind Phone Became a Bridge Between Life and Death

Lenten Devotion for March 27, 2023

A few years ago I travelled with my son to Iceland. One of our excursions was a trip down into, and through cave-like underground lava tubes, formed when a conduit of still-flowing lava moved under the surface layer, which had cooled enough to crust and harden.

We were advised to wear clothing that would survive rough treatment, and issued helmets and lights before we descended.

There were places at which the tunnel was like a massive high-ceilinged underground cathedral.

There were also progressively narrow and low sections, that required us first to duck, then crawl, then slide our bellies on wet stone to get through.

Several times I had to remind myself we were being guided on by trained and experienced folks, who knew the way.

Alexa Gilmour, today’s “Good Courage” contributor shared a heart-rending story of the loss of her unborn child, and a significant conversation with her mother.

Alexa said to her mother, “I have a child to take care of. I need to get up, but I just don’t know how.”

It seems to me her mother’s response gave Alexa the permission she needed.

“Yes, you do,” she said, “You’re doing it now. The only way back is by way of grief.”

Then her mother sat with her and they cried together.

In your own life, has there been a person who offered you a gift like Alexa’s mother did for her?

Have you experienced grief as a healing process?

I worried it would feel disrespectful to Alexa’s story to include the Youtube video, but her very personal disclosure reminded me of this old nursery rhyme. Especially the verse about the deep, dark cave.

We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

We’re goin’ on a bear hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one,
I’m not scared
What a beautiful day!
Oh look! It’s some long, wavy grass!
Can’t go over it,
Can’t go under it,
Can’t go around it,
Got to go through it!

We’re goin’ on a bear hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one,
I’m not scared
What a beautiful day!
Oh look! It’s a mushroom patch.
Can’t go over it,
Can’t go under it,
Can’t go around it,
Got to go through it!

We’re goin’ on a bear hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one,
I’m not scared
What a beautiful day!
Oh look! It’s a wide river.
Can’t go over it,
Can’t go under it,
Can’t go through it,
Got to swim across it.

We’re goin’ on a bear hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one,
I’m not scared
What a beautiful day!
Oh look! A deep, dark cave.
Can’t go over it,
Can’t go under it,
Can’t go through it,
Got to go in it.

Uh, oh! It’s dark in here.
I feel something,
It has lots of hair!
It has sharp teeth!
It’s a bear!

Hurry back through the river,
Back through the mushroom patch,
Back through the long grass
Run in the house and lock the door.
Phew! That was close!

I’m not afraid!