There are few topics as challenging to address as suicide. Pain surrounds the issue, and words of comfort are hard to salvage amid these storms.
We hope this week – with great tenderness and care – to gently approach it with a spiritual lens grounded in God’s love.
Our hearts break for the families in the congregation who struggle over the suicide of a loved one. There is no easy balm in those circumstances.
What we can offer, in this service and in this congregation, is a way to say “Stay.” To say “stay” to those struggling. And to say “stay” to each other as we sit, at times, in the dark.
Life is so much about being openhearted, tenderhearted, brokenhearted – all of which means being wholehearted.
This is not a service for everyone. And, as a congregation, there is yet a sober acknowledgement that we must speak to it with the greatest of care to serve those whose struggles remain largely hidden from view.
This care is who will be as a congregation – together. Facing the challenges of life as best we can.