I can relate to your comment that "this funeral is being held at place I left behind with more scars than I’d care to admit — the church." Perhaps I should say my wife can relate it to better. We both retired as pastors at the end of last year. We also have scars from our time as parish pastors--but my wife bears many more.

Between the two of us, she is more the extrovert, and I am much more the introvert. Consequently, she has almost always been the one to push forward in whatever new venture we have planned. And for her trouble, she has received the lion's share (or lioness' share?) of the hand grenades and land mines. The fact that she is a woman has had much to do with it.

Long story short: everyone's pain is their own, but we have a little bit of sense of what it feels like.

So God bless you, Dan. May the rest of this Advent season and this Christmas bring you and your dear wife an extra measure of grace and peace!