To say that trauma and traumatic experiences are hard is an understatement, because they are indescribable. Even the journey of recovery is complicated.
All tagged death
Not Giving Up: Reframing the Ethics of Allowing a Natural Death
What I have found, though, is that families in crisis rarely need an ethics lecture. They need permission: permission to grieve, permission to be afraid, and permission to believe that letting go of aggressive treatment is not the same as letting go of the person they love.
Navigating Hopes and Fears in the ICU
I am a navigator in the various intersections of hopes and fears emerging into ethical dilemmas unfolding in the ICU. Within the hospital setting, chaplains offer emotional support and spiritual care services as members of the patient care team while simultaneously addressing ethical considerations by upholding confidentiality and impartiality.
What is a Good Death?
We are skilled professionals, capable of having difficult conversations in moments of crisis. We can share hard news and provide education about options in ways that are compassionate and loving. What we cannot do, though, is presume to know the best way for someone to die.
Living with Death
There is the reality that the dying process may be painful, both emotionally and physically. Sometimes death is sudden, due to accidents, heart attacks, or even violence. But the day is coming when death will be no more. That is the promise of Revelation 21:4. No more death. No more mourning. No more pain.
At a Town Called Adam
Christ’s life becomes our life. Christ’s death becomes our death. And Christ’s resurrection will become our resurrection. Because in Christ, and through Christ, and with Christ, we are drawn out of the river of sin and death that all started at a town called Adam.
Evy Greenlee, Jesus, Alzheimer’s, and dying to live
But in the arms of Jesus. She is more fully her and more truly home than she ever could have been here.
What Dying People Want – and Need – to Talk About
I spend a lot of time in hospitals, hospice, and living rooms talking with people about dying. I have noticed that often they worry about things of a spiritual nature.
Reflecting On “Heart-Shaped Pickles”
As church leaders, parents, and invested adults, I know we all see this need for supporting children through times of grief. I want to share a little perspective and some resources that I pray you find helpful.
A Time to Speak, Part 2: Hiddenness
How do we respond to abandonment as ministers and Christian leaders? I don’t like talking about abandonment, and my first instinct is to find excuses.
Three Christian Truths About Death
As spiritual leaders … we are expected to have words that matter as we speak into the lives of those in pain.
Reflection Roundup: Taking Time
Gratitude, simplicity, taking time. How difficult it can be to digest our own advice; how often we remain shielded from the perspectives of others. Pause; breathe.
I Am
We’re in over our heads; light spreads at too slow a pace for one step, it seems. We’re waiting; are you here?
On Death, COVID-19, and Easter
Like my brothers in the prison, suddenly we are all hoping that death won’t have the last word.
How to Preach a Funeral
Now that this is a more intuitive process for me, I share these three practical guidelines for preaching a funeral.
The End Is the Beginning
Even as some churches are dying, the kin-dom of God is not dying. We are not powerful enough to kill the redemptive movement of bringing humanity into fuller relationship with God.
Grief and Hope: Advice for Speaking at Funerals
Humble suggestions after 25 years of conducting funerals while begging for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and simply trying to say what seems most appropriate.
Waiting for Easter
I wonder what Jesus’s followers did in the long hours between the death and resurrection. It was only a couple of days, but it likely felt like an eternity.
Lazarus, Come Out!
As I sit imaginatively with this story, I find myself identifying with Lazarus. I find myself in a season of life with God that feels grave.
Sibyl, Eliot, and Jesus
We preach life after death, denying death its victory, but perhaps we forget that death has always brought life.