Christ’s Love in the Grief Support Group
A Story of Grief, Grace, and the Priesthood of All Believers
Yesterday, in the quiet warmth of our parish Grief Support group, three strangers walked in—a recently widowed woman, her daughter, and her grandson. They had never been to our church before. Yet before the meeting was over, they were embraced as if they had always belonged.
This family had connected with our church through technology (Gloo+),1 but it was not technology that made the two hours we shared with them so deeply meaningful. It was the presence of Christ mediated through the compassion of his people.
Though these three were strangers to the group, there was an immediate and unforced sense of connection. At first glance, one might attribute that connection to the shared experience of grief, and grief was indeed present. But more fundamentally, what bound us together in that room was faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 13:13).
In particular, it was the love demonstrated by the women of our church that created space for this family to grieve, tell their story, and feel heard. What I witnessed was not simply a moment of kindness; it was an embodiment of the church’s vocation. It was, in the truest sense, ministry.
The Ministry of the Baptized
The priesthood of all believers is a biblical and theological affirmation that every Christian, by virtue of their union with Christ, is called to participate in the redemptive life and ministry of the Church. This doctrine, rooted in passages such as 1 Pet 2:9 and Rev 1:6, affirms that ministry is not the exclusive domain of the ordained. Instead, every baptized Christian is set apart to offer spiritual sacrifices and to serve as a living witness to the reconciling work of God in Christ.
Peter writes,
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9, ESV).
The priestly identity of the believer is not figurative or merely devotional. It is an ecclesiological reality grounded in our participation in Christ, our great High Priest (cf. Heb 4:14–5:10). As such, every act of compassion, intercession, or consolation performed in Christ’s name becomes, in a real sense, a liturgical act, an offering before God for the sake of others in this world.
The Priesthood of All Believers and the Restoration of the Image of God
The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is not merely an ecclesiastical policy or cute slogan. It is a deep, biblical reality that arises from the story of creation and is fulfilled in the person of Christ. Humanity was made in the image of God, which is a royal and priestly identity (Gen 1:26–28). We were created to reflect God’s glory into creation and to offer the praise of creation back to God. In this way, priesthood is not a secondary vocation; it is part of God’s original intentions for humanity.
G. K. Beale argues in The Temple and the Church’s Mission that Adam’s role in the garden was inherently priestly. Eden itself is depicted in temple language, and Adam was to “work it and keep it” (Gen 2:15), a phrase elsewhere associated with Levitical service (e.g., Num 3:7–8). Beale writes:
“The temple was to be a symbolic microcosm of the entire cosmos, and Adam was to extend the boundaries of the garden to the ends of the earth, filling the world with God’s glory.”2
Beale’s insight is that the temple was never merely a static building, but a signpost of God’s presence, intended to expand across the world through the priestly work of his people. This expansion, once mediated through Israel’s worship and now through the Church’s mission, is how the world becomes filled with the glory of God. In Christ, we are living stones (1 Pet 2:5), temples of the Spirit (1 Cor 6:19), and extensions of his presence in every act of priestly love.
This mission to reflect and extend God’s presence is restored to us in Christ, the true image of God (Col 1:15), who has made us “a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Rev 1:6). United to Christ by baptism, all believers now share in his priestly identity and vocation.
The priesthood of all believers is, therefore, not metaphorical. It is the theological foundation for all Christian ministry. To be a Christian is to be a priest. It is to offer oneself in sacrificial love for others, to intercede, to bless, and to mediate the presence of God in the world.
Anglican Perspectives on the Priesthood of All Believers
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer, although it does not employ the modern language of “the priesthood of all believers,” consistently affirms this principle through its liturgical theology. In the Prayer of Consecration during Holy Communion, the celebrant leads the congregation in this offering:
“And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee…”
This is not a prayer that refers only to clergy. The prayer refers to an act of self-offering by the entire church. Every worshiper is addressed as a priest, offering spiritual sacrifices in union with Christ. The liturgy trains the people of God to understand that their very lives are to be offered to God, not only within the sanctuary, but in the world.
Contemporary Anglican theologians have echoed this vision. Rowan Williams observes:
“Every baptized person is called to be a minister of reconciliation—not just the clergy. The vocation of the church is exercised in a thousand hidden ways in everyday life.”3
This ministry is precisely what I saw yesterday: the priestly vocation of all believers exercised not in vestments or sanctuaries, but in folding chairs and a shared meal, where grieving women bore one another’s burdens and fulfilled the law of Christ (Gal 6:2).
Likewise, N. T. Wright emphasizes that our Christian vocation is never passive:
“The church is not a club for the elite; it is a new way of being human together. The call of the gospel is not for spectators but participants.”4
The priesthood of all believers is not a step down from ordained ministry. Instead, it is the restoration of our original vocation as human beings: to bear the image of God into the world and to offer the world back to God in prayer, praise, and presence.5
Embodied Ministry in a Digital Age
The irony of this encounter is not lost on me. It was technology—cold, impersonal, algorithmic—that facilitated the initial connection. But it was embodied love that ministered to the soul. In a cultural moment increasingly defined by disembodied interaction, the church is called to reassert the irreplaceable power of presence. The Word became flesh, not content. Ministry still requires faces, hands, tears, and time.
The Word became flesh, not content. Ministry still requires faces, hands, tears, and time.
This quiet moment yesterday was a powerful reminder that the church is not defined by its programs, buildings, or clergy, but by the Spirit-filled ministry of its members. What happened in that room was not peripheral to the church’s mission. It was the church’s mission, lived and embodied by the women sitting around that table.
A Vocational Reminder
If you’ve ever wondered whether God can use you, he can. Likely, he already is. Ask him where. Ask him how. Then be ready to step into a priesthood that is not abstract or ceremonial, but real, embodied, and redemptive.
Your vocation as a Christian is not defined by title or training, but by your union with Christ and your willingness to be present in his name. You do not need to speak eloquently or solve anyone’s grief. You need only to love as Christ loved—to be with, to listen, to pray, and to remain.
The priesthood of all believers is not an abstraction. It is as real as the tears that fell yesterday, as sacred as the silence that followed them, and as powerful as the hope that slowly returned.
If you’re not familiar with Gloo+, I’d be happy to discuss it with you.
G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2004), 85.
Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 31.
N. T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters (New York: HarperOne, 2010), 259.
N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 202.