As important as it is to nurture our faith, encourage one another and keep a positive attitude, we must also make space for the grief we are feeling during this time.

And the grief felt in the midst of this pandemic runs a wide gamut. It goes from grieving the loss our twice-weekly exercise class community to the cancellation of a milestone event or a regular tradition to the loss of worshipping together to the loss of a loved one to the disease…and on and on and on. The grief is as varied as it is widespread. Even though some situations may be more heartbreaking than others, everyone’s grief counts.

I’m in an online group with Rev. Karen Madrone, who is a Unitarian pastor in Utah. She floated the idea to set aside some time each week to acknowledge and sit with the individual and collective grief we are all experiencing.

Sunday Mournings at 6 p.m.

So, starting this Sunday, I invite everyone to pause at 6 p.m. (in whatever time zone you are in), light a candle and spend some time in silence and prayer the things you are grieving and the people you know who are grieving. I’ll start a post each Sunday evening on the Doubting Believer Facebook Page where (if you want) you can share your grief throughout the evening, and we can hold you in prayer.

Please invite your own communities in to this ritual. If you choose to share how and what you are grieving on social media, please use #sundaymournings so that other people can find all the posts. While grief can be a very private thing, sometimes it helps to share. It helps the person who shares, and it helps others to know they are not alone in their grief.