Grief is a natural part of the human experience that in one way or another eventually touches every life. It is impossible to make it to the end of one’s life without knowing the pain that comes from loss, whether it is the loss of a loved one to death, the loss of a relationship to breakup, or the loss of hope to despair. People die, jobs are eliminated, disasters ravage the earth, and relationships fall apart, yet the world continues spinning on its axis and life marches on.
The problem is that after a significant loss, we often do not feel that we have the energy or the will to continue. We are filled with questions that often paralyze us, fill us with doubts, and do little to relieve our pain. We struggle to understand why it is that death interrupts life, why disease invades health, and why sorrow intrudes upon happiness. People of faith have struggled for centuries to understand why bad things happen to good people. In fact, it is the subject of the oldest book of the Bible, the Book of Job.
The words of this small book were not born in abstract theory, but in the midst of a community of hope. These are sermons preached at the Cathedral of Hope. This book offers the hope of healing by pointing to the grace and love of God, which overcomes grief, even when we feel that our world is falling apart or that we have reached the end of all that we can handle. Mourning to Morning is designed to be read either from cover to cover or by choosing the chapters that seem to speak to your situation. Regardless of how you approach the pages that follow, may you discover within them the gift of grace that is sufficient for your every need.
Michael S. Piazza is a spiritual visionary, author and social justice advocate who currently serves as Dean and Senior Pastor of the Cathedral of Hope, the world’s largest inclusive and progressive Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Under Rev. Piazza's courageous leadership, the Cathedral of Hope is setting new standards for compassionate evangelism, inclusive worship and national ministries, while at the same time making religious history.
A native of Georgia, Rev. Piazza recently celebrated thirty years in ministry and has pastored churches in Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Florida. He holds Bachelor's Degrees in history and psychology from Valdosta State College in Georgia and a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta.
From 1973 to 1981, Rev. Piazza pastored United Methodist Churches, becoming an associate minister of a Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) congregation in Atlanta in 1981. From 1983 to 1987, he pastored St. Luke's MCC in Jacksonville, Florida and came to Dallas in November of 1987 to pastor the Cathedral of Hope.
The Cathedral of Hope has five weekly services for its 3,000-member congregation. National church ministries, outreach programs, internet media and counseling services touch thousands of lives each day. Cathedral television ministries broadcast a weekly message of hope to a potential audience of 7 million households in 38 cities across the U.S.
The Advocate magazine named Rev. Piazza one of the most influential people in the gay and lesbian movement in August 1999. He has five published books including Holy Homosexuals, Rainbow Family Values and Mourning to Morning. The fifth, Queeries: Questions Lesbians and Gays have for God, was recently released. Rev. Piazza and his partner, Bill, have been together since 1980 and have two daughters.
