Walking Humbly with Grief
Walking Humbly with Grief
Weekly Brief for Sunday, March 27th, 2022
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8
Dear Friends,
As most of you have heard by now, our friend John Geocaris passed away on Wednesday morning. It was sudden and shocking. Our prayers this week are with Monica, their children, and their family. John and Monica have been active members of our congregation for decades. Even though they had moved to Denver, John was still serving as our treasurer. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I will miss his wry humor, his thoughtful insight, and the calm and purposeful presence and approach he offered to this community.
This has been a long season of loss for this congregation and I am very mindful of the toll that it has taken on all of us. We continue as a community to walk with grief. My prayer for our community is that we will learn more and more to walk humbly with that grief—letting go of trying to control outcomes or numbing our pain. Walking humbly with grief requires that we let our pain be pain. In walking humbly with our grief, we also walk humbly with God. We learn to be deeply present to the present moment and to savor the life that we have and the beauty of the world around us. We grow more kind and more compassionate.
John and I only spoke a couple of times about his spiritual life, but I know that he was deeply moved by the Buddhist tradition. John found peace in being present to the life around him—in being present to Monica, his family, and his friends.
I have not had the opportunity to speak yet to Monica about arrangements. As soon as I know more, I will let you all know. For now, let us continue to surround Monica with our prayers.
Peace and love,
Rob
Join Us For Worship
Join us in person or online this Sunday morning as Pastor Rob continues to reflect on the third movement in Matthew Fox’s vision of a creation-centered spirituality—the Via Creativa, the way of creativity and generativity. Music will be led by CCW Music Director Winifred Brown and Sam Krausz. This week’s worship leader is Judy Smith.
Our service this week will also include a moment to pause and remember our friend John Geocaris.
After worship, everyone is welcome to join us in the CCW Lounge for coffee hour. This week’s coffee hour is hosted by Sharon Wallin.
For those joining us in person on Sunday morning, we continue to request that everyone keeps their mask on during worship to ensure that everyone who attends feels safe. If you are attending online, please feel free to turn your camera on during the service and to unmute as we share joys and concerns or share our reflections.
To participate in the worship online via Zoom, please click on the button below.
Living and Serving Together
Additional Resources Regarding Creation Spirituality
Our worship services through Lent have been and will continue to be focused on creation spirituality, a form of Christian spirituality that centers itself on a reverence for life and embodiment and rejects the dualism of the fall/redemption spirituality that has shaped western Christianity over the past thousand year. Though the name creation spirituality and the description of the four unique paths is contemporary, it is rooted in the works of the Hebrew prophets, the teachings of Jesus, and the writings of Christian mystics such as Hildegaard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Julien of Norwich, and Thomas Merton. Creation spirituality also celebrates feminist, earth-based, and indigenous spiritual teachers, poets, and artists, as well as contemporary scientists and philosophers.
To learn more about creation spirituality, I encourage you to take a look at Matthew Fox’s website as well as the website for Creation Spirituality Communities.