I recently saw someone complain on social media about Christians using euphemisms for death such as: passed away, gone home to be with the Lord and promoted to glory. “why can’t we just say that they have died?” They asked. Well having both pastored people through bereavement and experienced it myself, I thought I would… Continue reading Can’t you just say “they died”?
Tag: grief
Life in the valley of the shadow of death
Here’s a Faithroots Podcast on Psalm 23.
Grieving Together
We have experienced a significant amount of bereavement as a church family recently. A few of us have said goodbye to precious family members. In some cases it was something we were preparing for but in others it came as a total shock. Last week, we were hit with the news that someone who has… Continue reading Grieving Together
Summer is still to come
Autumn is nearly upon us and the school holidays are almost over. Teachers will be returning for training days shortly followed by pupils. Students will be returning or heading off to university for the same time. For some, the sense that the nights are drawing in and the loss of day light will hit particularly… Continue reading Summer is still to come
Going Home: death, grieving and life in between
It’s something we all have to face at some point. This last year we were hit with the double whammy of seeing my father in law and then my mum die within a few weeks if each other. But we do not grieve as those without hope. Here is some teaching on John 14 from… Continue reading Going Home: death, grieving and life in between
When Sorrows like sea billows roll (book review)
There aren’t many certainties in life, in fact it’s often said that the only three are birth, death and taxes. The middle of these means that at some point we are going to experience bereavement. What does it mean to grieve well? How can our faith sustain us through difficult days and how can we… Continue reading When Sorrows like sea billows roll (book review)
When my unhappiness does not commend the Gospel
Remember that Martyn Lloyd Jones quote I mentioned the other day? Unhappy Christians are a poor recommendation of the Christian faith.” I thought it might be worth digging a little deeper into it. As I suggested in my previous article, it probably works best as one half of a proverbial provocation. On the one hand,… Continue reading When my unhappiness does not commend the Gospel
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints
Today we lay to rest my mother’s body. It’s part of the process of saying goodbye. We as a family had the opportunity to say our goodbyes to mum in those last few days and hours. Mum is already present with Jesus, which means in the words of Scripture that she is “absent from the… Continue reading Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints
Pastoring the grieving
I’m continuing a little series on the day to day work of a pastor and so today we want to think about what happens when a member of the church or one of their family dies. What should you be doing. We cannot be over prescriptive here because every family will have different needs and… Continue reading Pastoring the grieving
How does a Christian doctrine of suffering affect counselling of the bereaved?
In June 2005, my Great Aunt was mugged and knocked unconscious. She died in hospital two days later. As a family we went through the full range of emotions; shock and sadness at the tragic loss, anger at those who did it, guilt at our failure to visit “Auntie” more often. Whilst each bereavement is… Continue reading How does a Christian doctrine of suffering affect counselling of the bereaved?
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