Several years ago a group of doctors known as neuropsychiatrists met for their annual session. It was my pleasure to be present and one of the papers read was entitled "Grief Reaction." It interested me to know that these doctors were concerned with what happens to a member of the family when the shock of bereavement strikes, and I felt that here was a theme to which a minister might well give thought. So our topic has to do with the problem of grief.

It is a somber subject of course. There is a line in Tennyson's "In Memoriam,"

Never morning wore

To evening, but some heart did break

and who knows when you may be forced to face the burden of sudden bereavement? Moreover, it is possible that there are those who do not see the beauty of this day because past grief shuts out the sunshine. In looking for light upon our darkness we go back to a text from our Lord: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

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Christ wants us to learn to ...