“A Hole In the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing” by Amanda Held Opelt
"A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing" is a bereavement memoir written by humanitarian social worker Amanda Held Opelt during the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the death of her grandmother and multiple miscarriages, Opelt's sister, spiritual blogger and writer, Rachel Held Evans, died unexpectedly of the flu in her mid-30's.
In the midst of her grief, Opelt turned to her own faith and investigated the grief rituals from her own and other religious traditions, across the globe and throughout history. From keening to sitting shiva to sympathy cards, by weaving her own personal struggles with loss and considering the grief rituals that have been (mostly) lost and how they would serve her, Opelt offers a wry and informative view of something not often written about, grief in the Christian framework.
I loved Rachel Held Evan's work, her dismissal of evangelical orthodoxy in favor of progressive Christianity resonated deeply with me. Her sister's faith appears more narrowly focused and I found the constant biblical references redundant and tiring. I also wondered if Opelt had opened her frame of reference to include more spiritual traditions (Wiccan! Muslim! Indigenous!) if she would have found brighter illumination in the customs and rituals of grief. But this work is a gift for those who come from the same religious framework as Opelt and a rare offering of honest portrayal of the suffering of loss within the Christian framework.
Located in the conservative Bible belt around Nashville, I'm often told that my community members don't need my services because all they need is Jesus. If this book accomplished no other thing, it opened up dialogue around how to love Jesus and be honest about suffering, loss and grief. From a faithful daughter of Christ, these words admit to the longing and the anger, the betrayal and the heartache that can fill the bereaved, no matter how committed to Christ they are and that is a much needed start.
