By Pastor Leo Rhee,OEM at YangjaeTwo weeks ago, I performed my very first funeral service as an ordained Presbyterian Minister. Our community at OEM-Yangjae was both shocked and deeply saddened when we found out about the passing of our friend and brother, James Ryu. He is survived by wife, He-Young, and two beautiful children, Anna, and Jonathan. James grew up in the United States, received the best ivy league education, and worked for a top international financial firm in Korea. James was with us since the early beginnings our church a year and a half ago, when a vision of a family-oriented church for ex-patriots and English-speakers residing in the city of Seoul was birthed.Many of us were left wondering, as perhaps we all wonder when grief hits hard: "Why did such a thing happen? To reveal God's glory? To remind us of the fragility of life? Or perhaps to deepen the faith of those carrying on?" It's hard to answer when everything seems so dark.But we do find something to lead and guide us through. We hear an invitation to allow our mourning to become a place of healing, and our sadness a way through pain to dancing. We learn to look fully into our losses, not evade them. By greeting life's pains with something other than denial we may find something unexpected. By inviting God into our difficulties we ground life-even its sad moments-in joy and hope.In times of pain, our natural reaction is to flee it at all costs. Henri Nouwen, Catholic priest and world renowned author states, "When we learn to move through suffering, rather than avoid it, then we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. We even begin to see how God can use it for some larger end. Suffering becomes something other than a nuisance or curse to be evaded at all costs, but a way into deeper fulfillment. Ultimately, mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of the One who can heal."We are called to grieve our losses. It seems paradoxical, but healing and dancing begin with looking squarely at what causes us pain. Our efforts to disconnect ourselves from our own suffering end up disconnecting our suffering to God's suffering for us. The way out of our loss & hurt is in and through it. Christ invites us to remain in touch with the many sufferings of every day and to taste the beginnings of hope and new life right there, where we live amid our hurts and pains and brokenness. One priest put it this way: "I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted; then I realized that the interruptions were my work."Suffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ, we see God suffering for us. And calling us to share in God's suffering love for a hurting world. The small and even overpowering pains of our lives are intimately connected with the greater pains of Christ. Our daily sorrows are anchored in a greater sorrow and therefore a larger hope.James was a devoted father, loving husband, loyal friend & colleague. He will be dearly missed.