Where Grief Meets Grace

Beloved Grace Family,
Last Monday we gathered for our Silent Night service—a tender, holy time to hold our grief in God’s presence. Together we shared the light of Christ and the hope of the resurrection as we read scripture, prayed, sang, and gathered at Christ’s Table with the saints who now rest in God’s eternal embrace. It was one of those moments when the Spirit seemed to breathe through the room, reminding us that the long, winding road of grief is one we never walk alone.
I’ll admit I was surprised by my own grief. As I opened the service and read the cries of the psalmist, something in me trembled. My father died last January, and even after months of healing, the ache can rise without warning. Grief is funny like that—sudden, sharp, uninvited. But I cannot imagine a better time or place to feel it than in the company of God’s people: not avoiding or pushing it away, but sitting with it, offering it to the One who holds all our tears.
I am deeply grateful for the Grace family, especially in moments like this, and for everyone whose care and preparation made the service possible.
After the service, I was introduced to a woman who had been in the building for a separate event upstairs. One of our ushers invited her to join us. When I met her, she was sitting quietly with another member of Grace. She told me that 25 years ago to the day, she lost her husband in a plane crash. The final hymn we sang—“When Peace, Like a River,” also known as “It Is Well with My Soul”—was the hymn sung at his funeral. She was moved to tears, and so grateful she had wandered into worship that night.
I could not help but feel that God’s Spirit had woven our paths together for that moment—quiet consolation, shared memory, and the tender strength of Christian community.
Friends, grief will always be part of our journey, but so will grace. And I am thankful to walk this road with you.
See you in church.
Peace,
Pastor Kevin