So, I had one heckuva year last year. I've written about what happened in previous posts and diaries, so I won't bore you with that tale again. But, I've been laid low for the last couple of months. It seems that the grief I put off so I could help others has finally caught up with me. It has given me a chance to think about how intertwined grief and hope are as I watched the unfolding of the recent tragedy in Charleston followed by the continuation of hateful acts against historically Black Southern churches.
We were given an incredible insight into how grief can inspire hope. We saw 9 amazing people open their sanctuary to a stranger out of love. We saw that stranger callously and brutally gun them down out of hate. We saw the immediate reaction of family members extend grace to the perpetrator of such hate and injustice.
Yes, the Charleston tragedy was horrendous. The churches that burned in the aftermath of that slaughter was horrendous. We grieved. And then, we hoped. The families of the Charleston 9 led us as they celebrated the lives that were so unjustly taken and asked for justice for the perpetrator.
The string of around 9 Southern churches that were historically Black were then burned. The correlation between the Charleston 9 event, the capture of the terrorist and other terrorists burning Christian churches is not lost on me, or really any thinking person. But, then we saw Muslim organizations begin collecting donations to help the Christian churches rebuild.
It was through the incredible grace and hope shown by the surviving family members of the Charleston 9 that helped me take stock of my own hope. They showed me that my own hope was not completely snuffed out, perhaps temporarily overshadowed by my grief, but not completely snuffed out. The offering of interfaith contributions to rebuild churches also reminded me that people routinely reach across perceived and artificial divides to help; they do not allow those perceptions of division separate them from other humans in times of need.
Grief is a natural part of Life. We grieve when we lose a loved one. We grieve various losses as we walk our paths through Life. And yet, we always seem to find hope.
Hope and grief are somehow eternally twined together. We can grieve one moment and find hope the next. We hope one minute to grieve the next. But, we keep hoping, even through the grief.