I recently stumbled upon an article from the St. Paul Orthodox Church in Frehold, New Jersey, USA. Lots of good advice here about how those professing the Christian faith can handle their grief. The author(s) point out that getting through grief takes work, that different people don't grieve the same way, and that Christians oftentimes cannot feel hope without a corresponding sense of loss -- and that's OK! Also noteworthy is that Jesus himself could not hold back his grief in the Bible:
"For we must be reminded that Jesus is recorded as having wept on two occasions. He looked out over his beloved city, Jerusalem, and poured out tears of grief because she had denied her destiny. His grief was an expression of His love and His disappointment at the coming tragedy for the people He so loved. Jesus wept at the thought of the unrealized dreams and the unfulfilled hopes which the eventual destruction of Jerusalem would mean (Luke 19: 41 - 44).
Jesus also wept when He visited Martha and Mary after the death of Lazarus. Those who stood near Him on that day were quick to interpret His behavior, for they said, 'See how he loved him' (John 11: 35, 36)! Grief was rightly seen as an expression of love."
The article can be read in its entirety here.
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