Dear Friends,

On Saturday, we had a beautiful women’s Retreat celebrating that as God’s creation, we are wonderfully made. This week, I changed my tires, and on my walk home, I  was transfixed at the beauty of a tree filled with the most magnificent yellow flowers; going for a walk in Cooper City, I marveled at the Muscovy duck with her brood of ducklings, diligently following her around the park and then feverishly paddling in the water as she nurtured them and taught them how to live and survive. Nature is always a reminder that after death comes life. But the agony of death is, at times, unfathomably painful. Our hearts and prayers hold Loretta Murray and her family on the tragic passing of her precious Grandson; we pray fervently for comfort for all, but in this place, we hold silence and no words because, at times, there are no words, just presence.

Our Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, a triumphant celebration ushering in torturous grief and everlasting hope. I leave you with the words of Jan Richardson, writing from her grief journey, reminding us that ‘Grief is daily. It finds us in every moment we will never share with our loved one again, every routine we have lost, every pattern, practice, and rhythm we have to create anew. Here’s the secret: that’s where the solace lives, too, and the grace’. Let’s tenderly love one another in grace this final week of Lent.’