En-Courage

I am offering another grief group. Please see details below or dm me for further information. This group is open to anyone, so please feel free to share. Because it is on Zoom you can participate from a distance.

Services at All Saints, Cochrane:
Christmas Eve - 6:30 pm with Archbishop G Kerr-Wilson; Christmas Day - 10:00 am with me, Deacon Elizabeth Short

WATCHING AND WAITING:
An Advent Retreat
Saturday, December 3, 1-3:30 pm
Parish House, All Saints Anglican, Cochrane
Facilitated by Deacon Elizabeth Short
All Welcome; DM to register

An Evening of Carols by Candlelight
Come sing carols and share the light of the candles
A fundraiser for the food bank
Free admission but donations encouraged for the food bank (grocery cards from $25 up will be available for purchase and donation on the night)
Sunday December 18th
At 7:00pm
All Saints Anglican Church, 4 Ave N, Cochrane

The journey of grief is complex
with many twists and turns. Everyone travels at his or her own pace and finds unique paths. The loss of a loved one can affect us in many ways and at various stages. We can still be suffering from an unresolved grief over the loss of a loved one years ago. We can be suffering with the anticipated grief of a seriously ill person, or we may have recently lost someone and are struggling with a host of emotions. Whatever the grief, it always creates a permanent change in our lives and change puts us into a place of transition. I invite you to join me in a 6-week journey during which we will look at the liminal space of grief. Beginning Tuesday, September 27 at 7:00 pm MST, on Zoom. Email [email protected] for more information and to register. No charge, but a donation to All Saints Anglican Church, Cochrane is welcomed.

Beginning Tuesday, September 27 at 7:00 pm MST, I will facilitate a process where we will support each other as we navigate the complex issue of grief. This 6-week course will be on Zoom. Check this page for more details. Email [email protected] to register or with questions.

I will be offering another 6-week grief support, beginning September 27, on Zoom. If you or someone you know would like to join me, I am happy to welcome you. Please feel free to message me with questions.

Day of Prayer for Ukraine - Ecumenical Prayer day in Alberta - MARCH 18

All Saints is planning to join in this provincial initiative. We will be hosting a prayer service here at the church at noon this Friday, March 18. Please come and invite your friends.

If you are unable to attend, you are welcome to join with the Diocese through Zoom. Please contact [email protected] and she will provide you with the link. You are encouraged to join with others in this movement of prayer. If you are unable to join with either of these events, we ask that you pause for prayer.

In a relationship where our primary name for each other was Sweetheart, Valentine’s Day was no big deal. Mostly it seemed redundant, though always (like any day) a good occasion for chocolate. Still, when February 14 approached for the first time after Gary’s death, I noticed. Amid the dread, I decided that maybe Valentine’s Day was a good time for a blessing. This is what came. As I share it again this year, I am thinking especially of those whose hearts have broken since the last time I offered this. If that’s you, this blessing is for you. And it is also for those who have been living with a broken heart for a long time. And it’s for those whose broken hearts keep beating in hope and in love amid the particular griefs of these days. For all who love and ache and love still, this is for you. Every single day.

BLESSING FOR THE BROKENHEARTED

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."
—Henry David Thoreau

Let us agree
for now
that we will not say
the breaking
makes us stronger
or that it is better
to have this pain
than to have done
without this love.

Let us promise
we will not
tell ourselves
time will heal
the wound,
when every day
our waking
opens it anew.

Perhaps for now
it can be enough
to simply marvel
at the mystery
of how a heart
so broken
can go on beating,
as if it were made
for precisely this—

as if it knows
the only cure for love
is more of it,

as if it sees
the heart’s sole remedy
for breaking
is to love still,

as if it trusts
that its own
persistent pulse
is the rhythm
of a blessing
we cannot
begin to fathom
but will save us
nonetheless.

—Jan Richardson
From The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief