A Time to Remember
I don't usually post sermons, but if you are recently bereaved what follows may be of help. Here is (more or less) the short address I gave yesterday, Advent Sunday afternoon, at a "service of thanksgiving and remembrance for loved ones". It immediately followed a time of quiet prayer. The Bible reading was Psalm 130 . Whether our bereavement is recent or longer ago, learning to live with the death of someone we love is hard and often very lonely. In this ‘time to remember’ I invite you to do 3 things: look back look up look forward. Look back to remember . Memory is such a precious gift. For some, the person you love, but see no longer, has left you with wonderful memories to cherish. You are grateful for who they were, the love they gave you. Some may also have painful, hurtful memories. But each person we remember today left their mark on our lives. So we honor them, by acknowledging honestly what they were and still are to us. The mem...