Heart-rending

There was recently a terrible ski tragedy that claimed the lives of two men well-liked in our town, a 46 year old pilot highly involved in minor hockey and a popular 17 year old still in high school. The town was rocked and shock was universal. The family of the older man has attended my church for as long as I can remember; our kids are in Sunday school together and so on. I knew the Sunday service immediately following their deaths would be somber.

But I didn't expect to be moved to tears by silence. For occupying every single seat in the front row were the members of a couple of the families who were closest to the suffering family. They were not reading, singing, speaking or doing anything else in the service; but every single one of them was there in mute testimony of their shared grief with their friends. It was one of the most moving things I have seen in a long time.