Grief Support Ministry Hosts Butterfly Release
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Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Brighton, Ont., welcomed its community to honor the deaths of loved ones in a shared experience of releasing monarch butterflies on their southern migration Sept. 1.
of COVID; and words recognizing the
“There has been so much death that our community has faced and the world has faced,” said Darlene Bunn, one of the peer leaders of a Fellowship CRC grief group. “Our rituals that we usually lean on to help us through these things have not been available to the same extent as they used to be because of the restrictions that COVID has brought, and I just felt it was a good opportunity for people to come together and just share.” Bunn’s mother died from COVID-19. The release of the tagged insects is a yearly undertaking by local researcher Don Davis. This is the second year that it has also served as a symbol of letting go
renewed griefs of this summer when unmarked graves of Indigenous children were found near grounds of former residential schools. Winnie Visser, the church’s part-time director of congregational life, said five people from the community had registered for the next eight-week session of Good Grief support. The groups began about seven years ago, with the first leaders being mentored by a pastor from a neighboring town who had experience in bereavement counseling. Soon the church began running new groups twice a year. “When we’re grieving,” Visser said, “we’re all sad and we’re all hurting. Some people
for members of Fellowship CRC’s Good
learn about faith in these grief groups
Grief groups.
because they hear other people talk
Bunn said about 90 people attended the event, including the town’s mayor. The program lasted just over an hour and included a prayer by the church’s pastor, Ryan Braam; words from Bunn, who spoke about the particular losses NOVEMBER 2021
In Brighton, Ont., Jody TerHaar of Fellowship CRC released a butterfly on behalf of Indigenous children who died in residential schools.
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about faith, and I think sometimes that people with faith learn about different ways in which the community expresses their grief. … It’s a sacred place to be able to walk alongside people.” —Alissa Vernon THEBANNER.ORG
