Collette Broady Grund

Last night, I reached a new milestone in my grief. Marrett visited me in a dream, but even in the dream we both knew that he was dead. He looked dead. He smelled dead. He even tasted dead (yes, he kissed me in the dream and it was gross). But he sounded so very alive. […]

This is the ending of the first session of my Grief Lectionary curriculum, tested today with a group of clergy. It is based both on the psychological ideas of flooding, as an emotional state that leads to a fight/freeze/flight response, and the biblical images of flooding from the Noah story and baptismal imagery. When the […]

Starting this Friday, I will be testing a six-week curriculum that’s been developing in my heart and head for a couple years now. I don’t know whether to call it a bible study or a grief group, though it might best be called both. Essentially, it’s a snapshot of how I’ve discovered that Scripture can […]

You have been told you are nothing, maybe, by those who should have loved you and protected you. You have been laid low by their words, maybe even their fists or feet, lying like the dust beaten out of a rug. You have been left to settle on whatever surfaces were nearby, neglect piling bit […]

A sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, on Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14. Preached at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Good Thunder, MN A lot has changed since I was here with you all last, some for the better and a whole lot for the worse. I would guess, given that we’ve been living in the midst of […]

My grief has been kicking up some gunk these last couple weeks, which I thought had long ago settled to the bottom of its pond. The waters there had been still for months–near total placidness–since the second anniversary of his death in June. Then the seasons began to change, and things shifted. Time for reflection […]

A sermon on Genesis 15. This is the end result of my Grief Lectionary post for week 2 of this year’s Narrative Lectionary, now published at Disrupt Worship Project. You can read the commentary here, but it’s not necessary for understanding what follows.  I want you to think, if you can, way back to New […]

As the Narrative Lectionary cycle begins again, I’m starting a new project. Using the weekly texts from Year 3 (Luke), I’ll be offering reflections rooted in grief. I hope these will be helpful to those trying to locate their own grief in the stories of God, as well as to those who are supporting loves […]

Elijah went a day’s journey in to the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” I Kings 19:4 I’m having an Elijah moment this morning, after being […]

It occurred to me a couple days ago that even though this situation is new, and this corona virus is novel, the feelings of daily panic in the face of an uncertain future are old hat for me. As one suddenly widowed last year, I’m no expert on epidemiology or pandemics, but I do know […]