Sunday, May 9, 10 am
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This Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 9, we will delve into the complexity, grief, and gift of mothering in a suffering world, as we welcome special guest Rev. Liz Tichenor — part of our occasional “Art Meets Life” series bringing artists and other luminaries into conversation-as-preaching-moment.
Liz is the author of The Night Lake, which Anne Lamott calls “such a sad, tough story, but finally so life-affirming, filled with spirit and love” — a raw and intensely affecting new memoir mapping the topography of grief of losing both a child and a mother, that seismic grief’s aftermath, and the hard-won joy that can follow. Liz serves as rector at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Pleasant Hill, CA (and formerly was associate rector at All Souls Episocopal here in Berkeley). She also happens to be a dear friend of Rev. Kit’s, who will join her in conversation.
If you’re intrigued by Liz and her story, check out her book, “The Night Lake” (warning: it’s very hard to put down). Rev. Kit will be leading a one-off Zoom book group on Friday, June 11 (4-5 pm) for anyone who would like to read and reflect together. You can buy a copy from Durant House at church ($26 or what you can, hardcover, 10 copies available – email Kit Dunbar ([email protected]) to reserve yours, or wherever you buy books. ”
For those who would like to read and discuss The Night Lake, Rev. Kit will host a one-off book group discussion via Zoom Friday, June 11, 4-5 pm.
More About The Night Lake
Liz Tichenor has taken her newborn son, five weeks old, to the doctor, from a cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe. She is sent home with the baby, who is pronounced “fine” by an Urgent Care physician. Six hours later their baby dies in their bed. Less than a year and a half before, Tichenor’s mother has jumped from a building and killed herself after a long struggle with alcoholism. As a very young Episcopal priest, she has to “preach the good news,” to find faith where there is no hope, but she realizes these terrible parts of her own life will join her in the pulpit.
The Night Lake is the story of finding a way forward through a tragedy that seems like it might be beyond surviving, and of learning to do so while trying to lead her community. It’s the story of parenting a toddler who is delighted with the world and doesn’t yet understand death, of standing in vulnerability before a congregation, and of learning to carve out space for the slow labor of learning to live again, in grief.
Read more about Tichenor and The Night Lake at http://revliztichenor.com/