We need to mourn…

We need to mourn — individually, communally, as a church, as a society, as a culture, as a nation.

Mourning and going through the stages of grief are really important. And our society is terrible at this. We don’t give any intentionality to it. Without mourning and grief, we can’t go forward because we don’t learn from what we have lost. We are literally trapped in a past that doesn’t exist any more. We can’t ever go back to the way things were — we’ve changed, others have changed, the environment has changed, our surroundings have changed, the culture has changed.

During seminary our family took a wonderful opportunity to do an exchange year of studies in Finland. It was an incredible experience. One of the best things that we ever did as a family. And when the time was up, we left. We had to move on. I had to complete my requirements for my M.Div. degree. My heart so wanted to stay. But that wasn’t possible. And so we left and moved on. I mourned the loss of being there. And through that mourning, I realized that even if I went back to Finland, it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be like it was when I was there. That time was gone. I had changed and continue to change. The people that I knew there changed and continued to change. The situation was changing. Life continued on where we were and it would be different if we ever went back. That’s normal. But I couldn’t see that until I mourned.