Weekly Clergy Letter from Mother Anne Turner

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)

 

These words have been on my mind and in my prayers this week. I am so aware of how tender our hearts are.

 

In the church office, we have been preparing for three funerals simultaneously, each of them to honor a life precious and beloved. These liturgies are a reminder of how fleeting our time to be kind to one another is.

 

This coming Sunday is Mothers’ Day, which for my money is the most emotionally complicated day of the year. I am always aware of the pain of those who celebrate their first holiday without a mother, or of those who struggle to become mothers, or of those for whom motherhood was not the tender relationship Hallmark makes it out to be.

 

On any given Sunday, we may come to church dressed up, but chances are that our souls are in disarray. None of us escapes loss, sadness, or disappointment. It may be a funeral, or it may be the complexity of family life. Or it may be some other grief entirely.

 

One of the traits that is I treasure in Grace Church is that we allow and honor tenderheartedness here. This place is not a museum of armored saints. It is a hospital for sinners who understand all that is broken in the world.

 

You don’t have to pretend here.

 

Sometimes, people will admit to me that they cry during communion. I see enough tears at the altar to know that tears are not an anomaly. They are a gift, I believe—God’s gift to us when our hearts are so full that they need a place to spill over.

 

I invite you to bring your pain and lay it down. I hope you will be unafraid to be vulnerable in this place. We share one another’s griefs, and we hold them with compassion, and we trust in so doing that God holds us all.

 

Yours in Christ,

Anne+