Rev. Michelle's Message October 16, 2025

I’m sure you have noticed that the season has changed—it’s getting dark earlier each day, we have traded that crazy humidity for rain, and the early mornings are now chilly. You may have already even placed an extra blanket on your bed. Yes, fall is here! And with fall comes the time when we at UMB step out of our collective comfort zone and lean into a time of exploring and sharing with one another our feelings, beliefs, concerns, and fears regarding the issues of death, dying, and grief.

To guide our exploration of this topic this year, I am using the book, The Understory: An Invitation to Rootedness and Resilience from the Forest Floor, by Lore Ferguson Wilbert. (As always, it is not necessary to purchase the book, but you are welcome to if you’d like to go deeper into this topic.)

I was drawn to this book and decided to use it this year because the author looks to nature to better understand our own experience of death and loss. In this way, the book fits in nicely with the series we did on “re-wilding,” and so I am calling this week’s and next week’s lessons “Re-Wilding Death” and “Re-Wilding Our Grief,” respectively.

What I mean by “re-wilding” in the context of our exploration of death and grief is to approach these topics not as something to fear or shy away from, but rather to see them as completely normal and natural, an integral part of the experience of life on this planet. In nature, death and rebirth exist in a constant cycle, with something always dying in order that something new may be born. Re-wilding death and grief is to return to a more natural, nature-informed way of approaching these issues, allowing our understanding to be guided by the way death and loss play out all the time all around us in the natural world.

We will delve into discussion and sharing this Sunday with an informal Death Cafe-style event after the service, facilitated by Colleen Pritchett, who is a death doula, and myself. This activity will provide an opportunity to discuss our thoughts, concerns, fears, etc. about death in a safe and supportive environment. Snacks will be provided! I hope you will join us.

Wild Autumn Blessings,

Rev. Michelle