FOR ALL WHO GRIEVE:
Navigating the valley of sorrow and loss
By Colin S. Smith
10 of Those. 140 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 913 278 281
I was pleased to read this book, which explores grief and points to Lamentations as a Biblical way to express profound loss.
The author has an ‘easy’ style, accessible for the average church member, and I could certainly see myself giving the book to a Christian who has lost a believing loved one tragically. This book contains many pithy and useful insights: for example: ‘Grief usually comes with guilt attached’ (p.57), and each chapter ends with helpful questions to reflect on its main points.
Note, though, the rather qualified way in which I phrased my second sentence. For Christians who have lost a child or a spouse traumatically, the author engages well with the tragedy of loss and the relevance of Scripture. For those whose grief is of a more usual kind (for example, losing a parent in old age), this book is perhaps less tailored for them. And for those whose loved ones were not believers, little is said.
Whilst there are many aspects of bereavement that are common to most people who grieve (and the author explores these well), I would hesitate to draw too many direct parallels between one person’s sudden loss and another’s more expected experience. In his last chapter, the author wisely points us to Christ as the one who knows our experience and weeps with us in our suffering, whatever form it takes.
I’ll end with an aside: reading this book prompted me to re-read Lamentations and plan a sermon series on it for next year. Any book which points us to the Scriptures like this is to be commended.
