Heart of Grief

“Across 25 years of pastoral ministry, I have accompanied hundreds of people through experiences of grief and loss. But when my own parents died a little more than a year apart in 2008 and then 2009 – my mother in a car accident and my father from a heart attack – all those earlier experiences of grief suddenly slipped into a deeper place in my heart as the loss became more intense and more personal. I felt like I had barely caught my breath from the death of my mother, when my father was suddenly gone as well. I was not surprised at the intensity of my feelings of loss in the immediate aftermath of those two deaths, but I imagined (or maybe I just hoped) that at some point, as the years passed, the grief would fade to nearly nothing. It hasn’t. Instead, it visits again and again, surprising me with its continued immediacy, repeatedly touching the parts of my heart that are still sorrowful, and asking me to accept its new and unexpected truths.” In this book of reflection and remembrance, Kurt Borgmann tells what one reader has a called “a poignantly honest” story of grief, discovery, and healing. Weaving together narrative, personal correspondence, and sermon, Borgmann traces an experience of grief that is less linear than circular. And as he tells a story of experiencing grief across time, he makes the case that our very personal encounters with grief do not fade so much as they become more focused. “The Heart of Grief” describes a heart that is hurting and honest and hopeful.