Katie and I are honored to have the privilege of sharing with our home church what we have shared with churches all over the country for the last 4 ½ years. What we will do this Sunday is what we feel the Scriptures encourage us to do in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

In His mercy and love, God is eager to provide comfort to His children in any and all circumstances. Whatever the trial we face, our Heavenly Father knows the situation and offers comfort as needed. The fact that He is the God of all comfort teaches that all comfort ultimately comes from Him. He is our source of peace and happiness and blessing.

In turn, God wants His comfort to flow through those who have received it to those in need of it. We may think of it as a "comfort cycle," where God's comforting presence enables Christians to become instruments of hope and support for others experiencing difficulties, thereby extending God's love and grace.

I encourage you to reach out to anyone you can think of who may be dealing with the grief of loss and invite them to join you this Sunday. And please don’t be discouraged if they turn down your invitation. There could be any number of valid reasons for their refusal. If that’s the case, encourage them to watch the livestream. Some may feel more comfortable taking in the service from the privacy of their own homes, and that’s understandable. It could be they’re just not ready to deal with their grief publicly. That has been the case in almost every church that has held a Walking Through Grief Sunday, and that may be the case for some in our own church family. But regardless of how or when or where they take in the truth of God’s Word presented from 2 Corinthians 12, please pray they will be ministered to by “the God of all comfort.”