Shirley Hardaway, R.I.P.

We have gathered at this memorial service for many reasons—to honor the memory of Shirley Hardaway, to comfort her loved ones, to remember our own mortality, and these reasons—together with others— are good reasons. But we have also gathered for another reason, a very simple one. The reason we have been able to come here …

Joel King, R.I.P.

In a time of sudden grief like this, our reactions, not surprisingly, include an oscillating range of emotions—whether sorrow, or pity, or anger at God, or unanswerable aching questions for God, and so on, down the line. Some of the questions make sense, the rest don’t, and none of them need to make sense. They …