Grief's Liturgy: A Lament

Description: At once a lament-psalm and a love song Griefs Liturgy records Gerald Postemas work and worship of grief upon the loss of his wife a years work aided by the companions--poetry and prayers icons and images music and silence--that sat patiently with him. Structured around the liturgy of the Divine Office reflections in each hour take on a distinctive expressive and emotional tone and fall into a jagged broken rhythm over the course of each day yielding ultimately an understanding of the life-affirming necessity of grief. Endorsements: Griefs Liturgy is extraordinary; there is nothing like it. Its a grieving celebration of love--as is every true lament. What makes it stand out from all other contemporary laments is that Postema gives to the grieving celebration of love for his wife a moving and imaginative liturgical form. The writing is beautifully poetic and spare as all speech in the face of death should be. And its concrete often achingly so. Wonderful! To be savored. --Nicholas Wolterstorff Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology Yale University For anyone bereaved this book is one of profound deeply human thoughts and emotions exemplifying the struggles and labors of loss. Formatted around the daily Divine Office Griefs Liturgy sets the themes of grief into the context of poignant Scripture poetry music and art. Gerald Postema has created a plaintive soulful masterpiece that conveys the honest anguish of mourning. --Mark T. Higgins President Hall-Wynne Funeral Service Durham NC Postemas remarkable book invites us into his grief his mourning and his hope in God. Those who accept the invitation will be blessed. The poetry and art the songs and Scripture the honesty and fidelity will not eliminate grief of course but they will bless it and point toward the comfort of baptism and the promise of Gods love. --Allen Verhey Professor of Christian Ethics Duke Divinity School About the Contributor(s): Gerald J. Postema is Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He published widely in moral political and legal philosophy.