Click here to view the current location with speaker topics and details. 

The Southwest Grief Coalition is an active ministry within our community that includes Eden Prairie United Methodist Church, Immanuel Lutheran Church, St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Family of Christ Lutheran Church, and Pax Christi Catholic Community. Three series held throughout the year at these various faith communities offer support and education opportunities for those family and friends who are grieving the death of a loved one.

Questions? Contact Joan Miltenberger, Director of Care and Support Ministry, 952-405-7211, or jmiltenberger@paxchristi.com, for more information.

Faith questions naturally arise during these agonizing times: How can I walk with God when God seems to have forgotten all about me? How can I pray when I hurt so much? What do I do when the ways that I used to pray don't work for me?

When we feel engulfed by such questions, there are some helps to which we can turn.

Picture God on your side. The way we picture God has much to do with the way we walk with God during our time of loss. It is helpful to picture God as being on our side rather than against us or responsible for our suffering. Harold Kushner tells us in When Bad Things Happen to Good People that God does not send suffering to us; rather, suffering and loss are a result of the human condition.

Picturing God as One who is on our side is a strong biblical image. God will never abandon us or forget us. God has great compassion for us, yearning for our peace and joy. Many writers see God as suffering with us, walking the road of our grief, having infinite concern for us.

As we pray during our time of grief, we can picture God sitting by our side, looking upon us with much love, or walking with us and listening to our story of sorrow.

–Excerpt from Walking With God Through Grief and Loss by Joyce Rupp, O.S.M.#