In a sermon near the beginning of the pandemic, we explored the ways that many of us have experienced the ongoing COVID crisis as a form of “ambiguous loss.” Dr. Pauline Boss coined this term, ambiguous loss, back in the 1970s, to describe a kind of loss in which there is either a physical absence with psychological presence (as when a loved one is MIA) or when there is psychological absence with physical presence (as when a loved one suffers from severe depression or dementia). Most of us have had direct experience with the first type of ambiguous loss during the pandemic: we know how much it hurts to have loved ones in our hearts even while we can’t be with them in person. But as the pandemic morphs into an endemic and we begin to wade (or dive) back into social gatherings, the second form of ambiguous loss may become more dominant. How will we survive the pain of being back with others who are no longer the people they were before, knowing that we, also, are no longer the people we were before?

Topics: Community