Collette Broady Grund

Cause of Death: Immediate, Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease Other Contributing Conditions: Hepatomegaly, Hepatic Steatosis Monday morning, the death certificates arrived at the funeral home, the signal I’d been waiting for to say the toxicology report was finished and the autopsy officially complete. I talked to the medical examiner Monday afternoon. He seemed as shocked as I was…

I entered the church building yesterday for the first time since the funeral: to test it out, to see what it would feel like, to know whether I can actually go back to work next week as I have planned. On the one hand, it felt bad to be there, partly because everyone looked so…

Devotion given this evening at the ELCA Hunger Leadership Gathering, Minneapolis Before I truly begin this devotion, I want to say a word of thanks and a dedication. First, thank you to Robin Brown for inviting me to do this devotion. Robin was an upstairs neighbor of mine at the Lutheran School of Theology in…

It started with the butterflies. A dozen of them, all sizes, showed up on the front of our house the day Marrett got sick. These butterflies hatch in our neighborhood every year, but usually down the street near a neighbor’s house. But Thursday last, they took up residence at Broady Grund Hollow, alighting on our…

I lay in the bed I used to share with my husband, the toddler’s tiny form tucked in beside me, listening as her breathing settles into sleep. My eyes are open, but I cannot see, save for the sliver of light coming from the hall. The darkness feels like a metaphor. Marrett’s death is exactly…

The sun is shining with a warmth that can only mean spring this morning, and as I came out of my favorite coffee place with my favorite chai latte in hand, I was literally stopped in my tracks by joy. It’s a Monday, which is my day off each week, and I started it with…

As part of personal project, and one my bishop is encouraging all the clergy in our area to undergo, this is the first in a series of posts where I examine my own white privilege and begin dismantling the white supremacy that is part of who I am. Hearing the news about Elizabeth Warren’s DNA…

It was a long week, for so many women including myself, one in which it was hard to not get thoroughly discouraged about the state of the world. Thankfully, within the walls of my own house, things looked a little brighter. My husband, God bless him, was an constant encouragement and said so many of…

A sermon on Exodus 7-12, the 10 Plagues This week in Faith Formation programming, we’re doing an Exodus event based on the story of the 10 plagues, so we switched our reading  from Joseph to the text that was just read. That switch was my choice, and I regret it immensely. Like the Noah story…

When we were in Chicago over Memorial Day, we let the girls go on their own to the Bean one evening. We wondered briefly whether it would be safe, whether they would get lost, especially since our oldest is not known for her navigational skills. They’re not city kids either, and the streets would be…