Workshop 3: Beliefs and Practices – What Happens When We Die? | Facing Death with Life | Faith Curricula Library,Tapestry of Faith

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Part of Facing Death with Life

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Introduction
From Facing Death with Life

In the wake of each loss we are inclined to curse the existence that deals out so many hardships, but many Unitarian Universalists emerge from their grieving with a sense of renewed faith in life, which offered them strength and hope when they most needed it. Life gives us more than it takes from…
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From Facing Death with Life

Activity Time Opening 5 minutes Activity 1: Cultural and Family Beliefs and Practices 40 minutes Activity 2: Journaling 15 minutes Activity 3: Near-Death Experiences 30 minutes Activity 4: What Happens When We Die? 20 minutes For Next Time 5 minutes Closing 5 minutes…
Materials
From Facing Death with Life

Newsprint, markers, and tape Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED/battery-operated candle Our Covenant from Workshop 1 Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 4 Handout 2, All Our Losses Three-ring binders with clear plastic covers, one for each participant who does not already have one Three-hole…
Preparation
From Facing Death with Life

Read materials listed in Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 3, from Workshop 2. Post Our Covenant from Workshop 1. Customize and make copies of Handout 1 for all participants. Make copies of Handout 2, All Our Losses and, if desired, Handout 3, Loss: The Litmus Test of a Religious Faith….
Opening
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and share these words from the Omaha Nation: No one has found a way to avoid death, To pass around it; Those old ones who have met it, Who have reached their place where death stands waiting, Have not pointed out a way to circumvent it….
Activity 1: Cultural and Family Beliefs and Practices
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 40 minutes Share this quote from “An Outline of Different Cultural Beliefs at the Time of Death,” a resource for health-care workers in the Australian state of Victoria: The final authority on all of a dying person’s needs must come from the person themselves, with some guidance or…
Activity 2: Journaling
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 15 minutes Call attention to the available color pencils, markers, pens, and pencils. Invite participants to write or draw, responding individually in their journals to the questions and discussions in the group….
Activity 3: Near-Death Experiences
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 30 minutes Share this quote from “The Science of Near-Death Experiences” by Gideon Lichfield: As medical technology continues to improve, it’s bringing people back from ever closer to the brink of death. A small, lucky handful of people have made full or nearly full recoveries…
Activity 4: What Happens When We Die?
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 20 minutes Invite participants to reflect on their own theology of death. What happens to a person after death? Allow five minutes for participants to reflect in silence or by drawing or making notes in their journal….
For Next Time
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 5 minutes Share with participants any updates on upcoming plans. Distribute Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 4, and Handout 2, All Our Losses….
Closing
From Facing Death with Life

Activity time: 5 minutes Share these closing words from Kate Walker: Our beliefs are varied, but we are united by our mortality. We may not know death, but we know loss. We may not see what’s next, but we seek assurance. Let love both ease our death, and soothe our soul. Extinguish the chalice.
Leader Reflection and Planning
From Facing Death with Life

Make a time for individual reflection and discussion with your co-leader after the conclusion of the workshop. Consider these questions: What worked well in today’s workshop? How can these elements or approaches be repeated or amplified in the future? What was most challenging?…
Handout 1: Looking Ahead to Workshop 4
From Facing Death with Life

In the wake of each loss we are inclined to curse the existence that deals out so many hardships, but many Unitarian Universalists emerge from their grieving with a sense of renewed faith in life, which offered them strength and hope when they most needed it. Life gives us more than it takes from…
Handout 2: All Our Losses
From Facing Death with Life

This text is from a 1988 UUA pamphlet written by John H. Nichols. Used with permission. Turning points When our parents left us at summer camp the first time, when our first pet died, when our best friend moved to another community, we grieved. We suffered what seemed, then, a very serious loss….
Handout 3: Loss: The Litmus Test of a Religious Faith
From Facing Death with Life

Excerpted from Liberal Religion’s Response to Loss, 1985 Minns Lectures, by John H. Nichols. Reprinted with permission of author. Some time ago a colleague of mine was interviewing for a new ministry, and the search committee, having read all of his best credentials, had one concern….

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Workshop 3: Beliefs and Practices – What Happens When We Die?

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