Messiah Lutheran Church, Knoxville TN

OWLs (Older, Wiser Lutherans) sponsor a weekly group—Coping with Loss/Grief Support Group. The group meets in the church library on Wednesdays at 1:00 pm and is led by Lynn White, a retired Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has past experience in facilitating such groups.

Life is certainly filled with changes, and along with those changes we experience different kinds of losses. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 spells out these changes clearly:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance, a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Those 8 verses are a thorough description of the different phases we all experience in life’s journey. There is definitely a time “for every matter under heaven.” As we age, it seems as though losses increase, doesn’t it? We retire and are faced with a whole new life schedule. We lose friends and family members along the way in our life’s journey. Those losses naturally bring up a whole lot of different emotions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any emotion you may be feeling at any certain time. These emotions are natural reactions to the circumstances we may be facing. Emotions are real and grief encompasses a whole tangled ball of emotions. That tangled ball of emotions will be introduced at the first group meeting.

We hope to be a bridge for healing with this group as we share with each other and look at various authorities on the subject. If you find yourself in the position of coping with loss, whether it be health, loved ones, financial, etc., we encourage you to join us on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 1:00 pm in the church library.