Healing Hearts during Winter Solstice
Our Healing Hearts gatherings happen throughout the year, not just at the winter solstice. We meet when grief demands it, when the community needs it, when someone reaches out and says "I can't do this alone anymore."
But we also recognize that grief support doesn't only happen in designated gatherings. It happens on Sunday mornings when someone asks how you're really doing and waits for a real answer. It happens at our Sunday morning Bible Study at 9:30 AM, where we dig into scripture that addresses life's hardest questions. It happens over coffee after worship, in the parking lot conversations that stretch long past noon.
Our Tuesday women's group and Wednesday men's intensive Bible study both create space for honest sharing about loss and struggle. Our quarterly Saturday deep-dive sessions on topics like the Apostles' Creed connect theological truth with lived experience, including the experience of grief.
We also maintain connections with Houston's broader support network. While we're not professional counselors, we know who is. We can help connect you with licensed grief therapists, support groups for specific losses, and other resources in the Houston area.
Practical Matters: Joining Healing Hearts
If you're reading this and thinking you might want to join us, here's what you need to know:
You don't have to be a member of St. John's. Healing Hearts is open to anyone in the Houston area who's walking through loss. We've welcomed people from all over southwest Houston and beyond.
You don't have to commit to every gathering. Come when you need to. Skip when you can't. Grief doesn't follow a schedule, and neither does our support.
You can bring any loss. We've gathered for people grieving spouses, parents, children, siblings, friends, pregnancies, pets. All losses matter. All grief deserves space.
You don't have to talk if you're not ready. Sometimes just sitting in the presence of others who understand is enough. You're welcome to listen. You're welcome to cry. You're welcome to sit in silence.
To find out when our next Healing Hearts gathering is scheduled, call our church office at (713) 723-6262 or email
office.sjpc@gmail.com. We're located at 5020 West Bellfort Avenue in Houston, 77035, easily accessible from Westbury, Meyerland, Bellaire, and surrounding neighborhoods.
You can also join us for Sunday worship at 11:00 AM any week. If you're not ready for a grief-specific gathering, simply showing up to worship and experiencing our community might be a good first step. Our Sunday morning Bible Study at 9:30 AM offers another entry point, studying scripture that speaks to life's realities, including loss.
The Presbyterian Approach to Grief
Our Presbyterian tradition offers particular wisdom for grief. We believe in God's sovereignty, which doesn't mean God causes every loss or wants us to suffer. It means that even in the valley of the shadow of death, God's presence goes with us.
We believe in grace alone, which means you don't have to earn support or prove you're grieving correctly. You're loved and valued exactly as you are, in whatever stage of grief you're experiencing.
We believe in the priesthood of all believers, which means we're all ministers to each other. Nobody at Healing Hearts is the expert with all the answers. We're fellow travelers, learning together how to honor loss and hold hope.
We believe in covenant community, which means we're committed to each other for the long haul. We don't abandon people when their grief gets messy or lasts longer than expected. We stick together.
These theological convictions shape how we walk with people through loss. We're not trying to fix you or rush you or make grief more comfortable for ourselves. We're trying to be faithful to the call to "weep with those who weep" and to bear one another's burdens.
A Word About the Long Journey
I want to be honest with you about something. Healing Hearts can't take away your pain. We can't bring back the person you've lost. We can't undo the reality of death or fill the emptiness that loss creates.
What we can do is walk with you. We can sit with you in the darkness. We can remind you that you're not alone. We can hold hope for you when you can't hold it for yourself.
The winter solstice teaches us that even the longest night eventually gives way to morning. The days do get longer. Light does return. But it happens slowly, gradually, one minute at a time.
Grief works the same way. The acute, crushing pain slowly becomes something you can carry. The constant tears become periodic tears. The inability to imagine tomorrow becomes the ability to plan next week. Not because you've forgotten or moved on, but because you're learning to live with loss as part of your story.
That journey takes time. It takes patience. It takes people who will walk with you for however long it takes.
At St. John's Presbyterian Church, we're committed to being those people. Through Healing Hearts and through our broader community, we create space for grief to unfold at its own pace. We honor loss without rushing past it. We hold hope without denying pain.
Finding Your Way Here
If you're in Houston and you're grieving, you don't have to do it alone. You don't have to pretend you're fine. You don't have to rush through your healing to make other people comfortable.
You can find a community that will sit with you in the darkness and believe with you that light will return. You can find people who remember your loved one's name and won't tire of hearing you speak it. You can find a place small enough that your presence matters and your pain is honored.
That's what Healing Hearts offers. That's what St. John's Presbyterian Church offers. Not a program, but a people. Not a timeline, but a companionship. Not quick fixes, but faithful presence.
We're here at 5020 West Bellfort Avenue in southwest Houston. Call us at (713) 723-6262. Email us at
office.sjpc@gmail.com. Show up on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM for worship. Join our Sunday Bible Study at 9:30 AM. Ask about Healing Hearts.
Or just sit in the longest night and know that somewhere in Houston, there's a community holding candles, speaking names, honoring grief, and believing that morning will come.
Because it will. Slowly, steadily, surely, the light increases. And you don't have to wait for it alone.
St. John's Presbyterian Church welcomes all who are walking through loss. Our Healing Hearts ministry provides authentic grief support in an intimate community setting. Contact us at (713) 723-6262 or
office.sjpc@gmail.com to learn more about upcoming gatherings and how we can walk with you through grief. We serve the Westbury, Meyerland, Bellaire, and southwest Houston communities.
Peace,
Pastor Jon Burnham
