DISRUPT Worship Project
  • Home
  • Lent 2021: Christ Have Mercy
  • Biblical Commentary
    • RCL
    • Narrative >
      • The Grief Lectionary
  • Liturgy
    • Lent >
      • Year C
      • Lent: Kindom >
        • Seasonal Liturgical Elements
    • Litanies, confessions, prayers for justice
    • Music
    • New Years Eve Confession
    • Advent >
      • Advent A
      • Advent 2020: Hope
      • Advent C >
        • Advent Wreath Lighting Litanies
        • Confession and Absolution
        • Advent 1
        • Advent 2
    • Christmas Eve
    • Pentecost 2017 >
      • Christ the King 2017
      • October 22
      • October 15
      • October 8
      • October 1
    • Occasional Liturgies >
      • Ritual of Healing, Hope and Blessing for Pregnancy after Loss
    • Full worship services >
      • Full Worship Services Archive
  • A Year of Faithful Resistance
    • Not that kind of revelation
    • Fight
    • A Year Of Saturday
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

The Grief Lectionary

In The Beginning...

9/10/2020

0 Comments

 
As the Narrative Lectionary cycle begins again, I’m starting a new project. Using the weekly texts from Year 3 (Luke), I’ll be offering reflections rooted in grief. I hope these will be helpful to those trying to locate their own grief in the stories of God, as well as to those who are supporting loves ones as they journey through grief’s wilderness.
Year 3, Week One: Creation and Fall (Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17, 3:1-8)
If grief is an expression of love, then God sets Themselves up for grief from the very beginning. In this second account of creation, God forms the adam (the human) from the adamah (the ground/dirt/dust) and blows into them the breath of life. And though God has made an abundance of creatures alongside the adam, this first human is dissatisfied with what God provides from their first moment. Though God intends Themselves to be the human’s helper, the adam searches in vain for another.
It is God’s grief I can’t stop thinking about here. How much does God know ahead of time, before a thing is created? Is every beautiful moment ruined by anticipatory grief for Creator, and They await the pain of Their creatures’ betrayal? How many days did the adam and their God walk together in the cool of Eden’s evening before the woman was created and took the Helper’s place? Was God ever awaiting the serpent’s question, and hoping against hope that the adam would not be tempted?
I wonder about the grief between the adam and chava (Eve) after he throws her under the first ever bus, blaming her for his disobedience. She trusted him, not only as her partner, but as the one who had heard God’s command about the fruit before she was created and reported it to her as law. Surely she mourned not only her own choice, but the loss of trust between herself and the adam. And of course, the couple together must grieve the loss of Eden, where their life was simple and easy. Put out into the wilderness, their lives are bifurcated, the path between before and after blocked by a cherubim and a self-brandishing.
Still, the grief that grabs me in God’s, as They are forced to restrain the love they have for the humans in consequence of their disobedience. Yet, as any grief traveler knows, love does not stop seeking an outlet just because the beloved is no longer available. Thus, God’s love is stitched into the garments the first humans wear into the wilderness. Unaware, the humans carry on their very bodies the proof of Love that lives beyond all death and its attendant grief.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    By Rev. Collette Broady-Grund

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

All liturgy and litanies are for public use, c. Disrupt Worship Project (or DWP).  If any changes are made to the liturgy, [adapted by ____] must be included in the attribution. If an individual author is cited, please include their name as well. Email team@disruptworshipproject.com with any further questions or permissions.

Help us to keep creating liturgy, litanies and commentaries that lift up new voices and push towards justice -- become a patron of Disrupt on Patreon!
Support us on Patreon

© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Lent 2021: Christ Have Mercy
  • Biblical Commentary
    • RCL
    • Narrative >
      • The Grief Lectionary
  • Liturgy
    • Lent >
      • Year C
      • Lent: Kindom >
        • Seasonal Liturgical Elements
    • Litanies, confessions, prayers for justice
    • Music
    • New Years Eve Confession
    • Advent >
      • Advent A
      • Advent 2020: Hope
      • Advent C >
        • Advent Wreath Lighting Litanies
        • Confession and Absolution
        • Advent 1
        • Advent 2
    • Christmas Eve
    • Pentecost 2017 >
      • Christ the King 2017
      • October 22
      • October 15
      • October 8
      • October 1
    • Occasional Liturgies >
      • Ritual of Healing, Hope and Blessing for Pregnancy after Loss
    • Full worship services >
      • Full Worship Services Archive
  • A Year of Faithful Resistance
    • Not that kind of revelation
    • Fight
    • A Year Of Saturday
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact