Well I’ve been the silent iTalker for the past ten days. I hope you won’t feel you’ve been locked out. You know felt that a no entry sign had appeared on the blog. Anyway, don’t be mislead I haven’t really been silent or dodging the work. I put in two shifts at NEXUS, last weekend, followed by a morning stint at St Andrew’s University last Sunday, speaking to students in training for the ministry. Last week I was at planning meetings for the CWW events that are coming up in January and May next year. And I had a speaking engagement in Aberdeen yesterday morning sharing with over a hundred men who had met to pray for their city. I returned for the evening and shared in a supper last night at the church promoting our last visit to India. I also conducted a funeral mid week for a lady who was so full of life but who died in her sleep. She was younger than I am. The church was packed just a few empty seats down near the front. Why is it that no one wants to sit near the front. They prefer to stand at the back? It’s as though there was a no entry sign placed at the front of the church.

I wonder if it is about looking in on grief rather than engaging with it. There is definitely something about death and dying that people as a whole would ignore if they could. We have made this whole area of grieving into a great guilt complex. I know people who are afraid to say how they are really feeling because they feel that people don’t wish to listen or engage with the fact that they have been bereaved.

I think we need to let people have time to grieve, have time to reflect on the loss of a loved one without feeling guilty. Loss and disappointment and how it all relates to faith takes time. I think there is definitely room to discuss this topic a little further in my next post.