Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today (Saturday) we spent time offering our goodbyes to Bev Edminster. We prayed, broke bread, shared stories, heard scripture, and wept in the columbarium garden. To some, time spent in a columbarium or a graveyard can be a depressing thing — a reminder of losses too far or too near to stand remembering.

For me, though, I’ve found time in such places to be somehow calming. Walking between the names you find yourself wondering about the stories behind the dates. Perhaps you see a service branch insignia and connect it to some service in your own history or family. Maybe you see a name and wonder if they’re related to the so-and-so family you knew back in Pine Bluff or Nantucket. Maybe you see a scripture quote you know well or wish you knew better.

I find, in those places, reminders of two truths. The first is that we’re all connected somehow. The second is that we’re all connected somehow.

First — We’re all connected whether by story or place or experience or in so many more ways. Each of us can walk among strangers who are simply folks with whom we haven’t yet found that connection. But talk to anyone long enough and you find connection and commonality and realize just how small the world is.

Second — We’re all connected in our beginnings and our endings with one another in God. Despite the unique twists and turns of fate or family we are knit together by love. We share a common ancestry and a common inheritance. No matter the differences we think so important in life we come to realize just how expansive and all-encompassing God’s love is.

Perhaps the most powerful reminder of these places and times of mourning is the simple one — we’re all connected. Each and every story matters to God and God has woven each of those into the fabric of creation. When we look for the connection of one with another, we can see it in both the briefest details and in the grand sweep of all things.

We’re all connected — let’s not let only times when we’re reminded of our end remind us to live with that truth and hope in our hearts.

Fr Robert