There is much to learn in the seasons of the church year even for not so churchy people. With patience and persistence it calls us into movements of heart, like passion week calls us into tending to our sorrows. Being called to mourning is an existential task. No religion can do it for us. It cannot be mere theater that we watch. But religion can help us to be reminded and can provide for us an occasion. There is no resurrection, no new beginning without the deep mourning of the old, without letting go what we loved so dearly, without mourning our losses.

May 10
May 10 Giving Life: On the Poignancy of Motherhood.

Almut Furchert

Hildegard of Bingen

For some, mother's day comes with a bittersweet undertone. No happy children posting happy messages. Some have lost their children before they could birth them, some lost them later, to death or to life. All mothers are also daughters, some cherishing, some mourning, some still struggling with their own mothers.

Jun 22
Jun 22 Emptiness and openness on Father's Day

Chuck Huff

This Father's day weekend I have been sitting in the garden, empty. The weather has been wonderfully cooperative for those having feasts and outdoor barbeques, and the noise of celebration drifts over into our garden where I sit. It is, for us, a day for crying together, but also for pondering together the greening power of nature. Creation brings beautiful abundance and also an abundance of loss; not every bud becomes a flower. To participate in the beauty is also to risk the loss.

May 11
May 11 Giving Life: On the Poignancy of Motherhood

Almut Furchert

Hildegard of Bingen

For some, mother's day comes with a bittersweet undertone. No happy children posting happy messages. Some have lost their children before they could birth them, some lost them later, to death or to life. All mothers are also daughters, some cherishing, some mourning, some still struggling with their own mothers.