The staff of our church gather first thing every Monday morning for a time of prayer. Each week, it is led by a different staff member. We pray for upcoming events, celebrate God’s work, pray for members of our faith community, and more.

This week our time of prayer was led by a young woman who leads our Grounds Bookstore and Café. She opened by saying: “Fast fact: the bestselling book this month is about handling grief during the holidays. A different book, but on the same subject, was the bestselling book last December, too. Let’s pray for those who are dealing with grief during this time that, for most of us, is marked by happiness.”

I was stunned. After our time together, I went immediately to The Grounds and asked to see the two books. As I leafed through the contents, I was struck by so many different words and phrases:

… an empty chair

… sorting through the ashes

… when holidays hurt

… Christmas in the Shadowlands

… the dance of grief and gratitude

I was particularly struck by “the empty chair.” My spouse of more than 40 years will be sitting around each and every Christmas table gathering, as will each of my four children and 16 grandchildren. There will be no empty chairs marked by grief and sadness, loss and emptiness. I can only imagine that if there were, how acute it would be during this time of the year.

During our time of prayer, I prayed for everyone I could think of, by name, with an empty chair. I prayed for those whose names I don’t know. I asked God to be with them, to give them a special sense of His presence and comfort. That there could be, as one of the book’s subtitles put it, “hidden hope amid pain and loss.”

Perhaps you could think of a few people yourself and pray for them.

And if you’re one with an empty chair,

… know that you were prayed for today.

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