Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

If five persons gather during a grief support session, how many persons are sitting around the table? I have the privilege of leading grief support groups for nine weekly sessions. On the last day participants seem reluctant to leave. They feel it had been good to be together in a circle of acceptance and understanding. Each one felt loved, an occurrence that Frederick Buechner calls “this ancient and most holy miracle.” Over the weeks miracles of healing gradually surfaced, hesitant individuals became a community, pain became less poignant for oneself and more open to the pain of others. When speaking of loved ones, were these deceased spouses and parents and siblings present? As we walked out on the last day, there was something more than five grieving persons and a completed workbook. How many persons were really present? As Frederick Buechner writes, “A miracle is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A miracle is where one plus one equals a thousand.”