This is the second week of our five-week series “On Death and Dying,” our 2016 Wednesday night Adult series during Lent. Our session this week includes discussion of the importance of talking about death, how to prepare for death, and how to die well. We’re making these podcasts available if you are unable to join us on Wednesday nights in the fellowship hall.
Questions for Discussion this Week:
- Stanley Hauerwas says that “death” is something of which modern Christianity does not want to deal. We seem to want to die by our terms, telling physicians how we want to exactly die. However, the Book of Common Prayer asks God to deliver us from dying “suddenly and unprepared.” How is this different from our modern desire for how we want to die?
- In the Middle Ages, people wanted to have a lingering time before death in order to get their lives right with others and God. In other words, they feared God more than death. How have we, in modern times, lost the ability to come to terms death and therefore come to terms with our lives? How can we pace our lives in order to be reconciled to God and others?
- How does talking about how we “want to die” make you feel? How do you and your family talk about death (or did you talk about it when you were a child)?
- What is a good death for you?
- What does it mean for you to die well as a person of faith?
[display_podcast]
Series Overview and Schedule
“Dying is the most general human event, something we all have to do. But do we do it well? Is our death more than an unavoidable fate that we simply wish would not be there? Can it somehow become an act of fulfillment, perhaps more human than any other human act?” (Henri Nouwen). Join us for this special five-week Lenten series in the Fellowship Hall from 6:30 to 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings after the fellowship dinner. Led by Jeff and Julie Walton and Art Wright, this series will explore practical and theological aspects of what it means for us to prepare for a good death. Please contact Art Wright (wright@tbcrichmond.org) if you have any questions.
Week 1 (Feb 17) – Introduction, Big Questions
Week 2 (March 2) – The Dying Process, How to Prepare Well for Death
Week 3 (March 9) – After Death, Funerals
Week 4 (March 16) – Grieving
