Sit with those words for a minute. Let God’s heart of comfort for your life sink in. Reflect on the past pandemic year. In the difficulties you have faced, how have you been able to experience God's compassion and care? As we enter this season of advent, perhaps more than ever we are keenly aware that we still live in a broken world, awaiting the second coming of Christ. Many have lost loved ones, lost a way of life, seen sickness and death, endured deferred hopes, experienced uncertainties and fears, suffered financial hardships, and grieved over injustice. There are so many losses, many of which have gone un-named. 

As we long and wait for the day when all things will be made right, we would do well to name and bring these sorrows and longings to God.  Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” (Mt. 5:4) and advent is a season of holding the tension between both lament and hope. It is in turning to our heavenly Father with our various griefs that we will experience the comfort, identification and hope in our Immanuel, God with Us.

In our previous tool, Common Ways of Responding to Grief, we discussed why it is so hard to mourn. This month’s tool will give some guidelines and questions to help the people we serve acknowledge their losses and make space for both mourning and hope.