After the church service
Father David asked when I was going to answer his question, “How are you?” with
“Fine, thank you.” instead of a shrug and OK. I blurted that I still don’t know
why my son is dead and I’m stuck until I know. It won’t make a difference and I
need the information. He said, “Keep coming to church and look for the
healing.” I do feel more comfortable there each time I attend.
A woman at church asked me if I came back because of my son’s death; if I was looking for solace and healing from the church community. I replied that I certainly did find comfort and compassion there but the draw to the church began back in April when I wrote Day 42 on my blog. I wrote about Easter. It led to conversations with Megan and her excitement about the flowering of the cross. Hollie chimed in remembering how much she enjoyed the ritual and music. Neither of them went to church when I stopped.
ReplyDeleteThe next month my son died. The first three months were shock and I wasn’t paying attention to anything except getting the business of death handled and making it through the day. Then I was aware of running into people I knew well when I was a regular communicant at St. Paul’s. Something finally was able to break through the fog barrier and I recognized that I did want to be included again. I called Fr. David and we talked. He didn’t ask me why I left or why I was interested in coming back. He simply invited me to come and find out if there was a place for me. The first few Sundays I left after the service increasing my way into the coffee hour and the social conversations. I felt comfortable. I asked for healing prayer and when the priest began to pray, the whole congregation came and put hands on me and on each other until we were one big spiritual energy field. That really began my trip back to reality and healing.