The death of a loved one is the emotional equivalent of getting hit by a train. There’s almost nothing that can create the bewildering range of emotions that the death of a loved one can generate.

The range of emotions can include anger, fear, sadness, loneliness and other feelings that defy ordinary description. And those emotions can hit hardest during the holiday season.

The staff of Gunderson Funeral Home and Cremation Services is well aware of that.

They also believe that grief shared is grief that is diminished.

Keeley Gunderson came up with the idea for a community service that would bring grieving people together for a message of hope during the holiday season.

The result was A Time for Angels, first held in 1998.

This year’s version will begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in St. Olaf Lutheran Church, 239 N. 11th St.

The service will feature messages from the Rev. Jim McColley, associate pastor of St. Olaf Lutheran Church, and the Rev. Jake Rosenmeyer, of Holy Trinity Catholic Church. There will be music and the names of people who died during the past year will be read.

Angel ornaments will be given to the families who have lost loved ones.

We encourage those who have experienced a loss to consider attending A Time for Angels. What people find when they go is that they are not alone in their grief, according to Phil Gunderson, owner of the funeral home.

We thank Gunderson Funeral Home and Cremation Services for going above and beyond what a funeral home would generally be expected to do to serve those who mourn. We believe A Time for Angels is both innovative and beneficial.

We also thank St. Olaf Lutheran Church for being the host of this community service for about 20 years.