Sanctuary First is a place where you can just be. I’m writing this section especially for you or perhaps a friend of yours who has recently been bereaved. I certainly do not know exactly how you feel. I think too often friends and family try to empathise with us in our grief by saying ” I know how you feel” The truth is no one really knows how you feel. And in a strange way you don’t want to think that someone else could possibly understand your situation. It’s all to private and the wound you have feels raw and open.
Everyone has to deal with bereavement in their own unique way. Don’t listen to people who expect you to get over your loss in a few months. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. You need to allow yourself time to grieve and time to begin to reshape the world that has changed all around you. There is more to life than you might imagine.
I don’t know what you think about life after death. All I’d like to say at this point is I don’t want to talk too much about the way my faith has helped me in my times of bereavement. Instead I’d like to encourage you to begin to follow your own spiritual journey.
Sanctuary First seeks to be a safe place where people can engage with their search for meaning and faith without feeling overwhelmed or trapped in anyway by another person. Let me just encourage you to deepen your faith and before long you will find yourself drawing from it.
Prayer is something most people do. Indeed we are often more expert in it than we might imagine. People pray in a variety of ways and places. Sometimes a prayer can be a thought, a feeling, a longing. Believe this or not, sometimes God helps us make a prayer, when we can’t pray. He knows we don’t know what to pray for yet he draws close to us, he hears us when we are silent.
The Bible is the one book that has brought a great deal of comfort and insight to millions of people going through the darkest times in their lives. Here at Sanctuary First you will find verses from the Bible which I’m sure will be a source of comfort and strength to you through the coming weeks and months.
PRAYERS
A Glimmer of Hope
We come, Lord,
In this hour of darkness
knowing that you will strengthen and comfort us.
We come, Lord,
knowing that you stand beside us, around us, in us.
We come, Lord,
knowing that you will never desert us, not now, not ever.
But for now, Lord,
like Jeremiah we sit among the ashes and weep.
We are in torment.
Our hearts are broken.
We are bereft.
For now, Lord,
all seems lost
we remain in the dark
oblivious to a new day dawning.
For now, Lord,
our eyes are filled with tears
we cry out in pain
And are without hope.
For now, Lord, carry us we are your people you are our strength
we give thanks that your power, your fairness, your faithfulness will restore us.
Evermore.
Amen
Believe
Mighty God,
By your power Christ is raised from death to rule this world with love.
We believe this.
We believe in You.
But for now, our grief is raw.
We feel empty.
Today the clouds of sorrow hang low and threatening, and we are fearful.
Our world has been turned upside down.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
We find it hard to accept.
Yet this is what you ask of us.
In acceptance lies peace – not in forgetting, nor in resignation, nor in busy-ness.
You have not promised us peace without sorrow; joy without pain……
It’s hard.
Very hard, Lord.
But into your love and keeping we now commit ourselves, now and always.
Amen
God’s Protection
Loving God
You have been there since the beginning of time -
rescue me from the depths of the earth
and comfort me in this time of need.
Take my hand and hold me
that I may find in you
~ A rock to stand firm on
~ A sheltering place of safety and security
~ Foundations which will not give way
and on which I can rebuild my life.
Take my hand and hold me
that I may lean on you
and trust you ~
in the childlike confidence
that you will not let me go.
Take my hand and hold me
until I can regain my equilibrium
where the shifting sands become firm once again beneath my feet.
You are my rock, my refuge, my strength
Hold me ~
with a love that is constant
with a love that is past, present and future
with a love that never ends.
Thank you, Loving God.