It has been a very busy week around Seneca Presbyterian Church - full of good meetings with great people who care about this church and God's kingdom. But this pastor has been distracted, so this post for Sunday is coming very late in the week. This Sunday we will be diverting just a bit from Joseph in order to celebrate All Saints Sunday. I will be reflecting on the experience of dying and what it teaches us, especially as we approach death from the perspective of our Christian faith. So even on Friday, you can help me by reflecting with me. Here are some questions to spur your thinking.
- Have you ever experienced a "good dying"? If so, what made it so?
- What have you learned about how to face death that supports the one who is dying and strengthens friends and family for the long journey of grief ahead of them?
- What lessons for your own life do you take from the privilege of walking with another person in the journey of death?
- How has experiencing death deepened your faith?
I thank you for reflecting with me.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord.Those who believe in me,
even though they die, shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me
shall never die.
Is it to late to comment? I have not had someone close to me die, but have been a part of two different churches in which someone who was dying of cancer became a great example and blessing to the people caring for them and to the congregation. As they neared death, both these people began more and more to reflect the love and grace of God as their faith became deeper and deeper, and by the time they both passed (in different times and different places), there was now doubt that they were joyfully greeting the God whom they'd been anxious to see face to face. Their knowledge of God's love grew, just as Paul urges in Eph. 1:18.
ReplyDelete