It’s been more than two months since Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, Nancy, went missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona. The co-host of NBC’s “Today” show reflected on her mother’s absence from the Easter gathering. She shared an emotional message to mark Easter as her mother’s missing case remains unsolved.
In a video for Good Shepherd New York’s digital Easter gathering, Savannah Guthrie admitted Sunday that she has a hard time discussing the importance of the Easter holiday in the Christian faith and the happiness associated with it.
Indicating that life seems much harder than death in this difficult time, she said: “Today we celebrate the promise of new life that never ends with death. But as I stand here today, I have to tell you that there are times when that promise seems irretrievably distant.”
“Deeply disappointed in God,” Savannah Guthrie says of her first Easter without her mother, Nancy
Savannah Guthrie expressed feelings of disappointment and questioned her faith as she reflected on her mother’s absence: “These moments of deep disappointment in God, a sense of complete abandonment.” She continued, “For most of us, there comes a time in our lives when these feelings take over,” as she marked Nancy’s first Easter without her mother.
While the “Today” host noted that her faith states that one should take comfort in the fact that Jesus also experienced pain, she had mixed feelings and questioned her faith. Struggling with feelings of abandonment, she said, “I wondered if Jesus really ever experienced this particular wound that I feel—this pitiful and uniquely cruel wound of ignorance and uncertainty and confusion and withholding answers” as she reflected on her own period of trial.
In her heart-wrenching Easter message, the 54-year-old said: “In my darkest moments, I thought bitterly and perhaps disrespectfully that I had encountered a feeling that Jesus did not know.
Elaborating on the importance of celebrating life, she added, “It’s the darkness that makes this morning’s light so magnificent, so blindingly beautiful. It’s all the more clear that it’s so desperately needed.” Despite her struggles, she emphasized hope: “So this morning I close my eyes and feel the sunshine,” adding, “I see a clear vision of the day when heaven and earth will pass away, for they are one on earth as they are in heaven.”
When did Nancy Guthrie go missing?
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31 at her home around 9:45 p.m. after having dinner with her daughter, Annie Guthrie. A missing persons complaint was filed the following day when she virtually did not attend the service.
