Activity time: 40 minutes Invite participants to form groups of three. Give each group a copy of pages 11-14 of “Loss across the Lifespan” from Let's Talk About Families and Loss and one of the children’s books. Invite the group to read the book, and then to decide for which age(s) the book is...

Activity time: 30 minutes Invite participants to consider their own experiences with death when they were young. Call attention to the posted questions and invite them to share responses in pairs....

Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and share these words from Fred Rogers: Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust...

Read the resources listed in Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 5, from Workshop 4. Post Our Covenant from Workshop 1. Customize and make copies of Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 6 for all participants. Make several copies of pages 11-14 of...

Newsprint, markers, and tape Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED/battery-operated candle Our Covenant from Workshop 1 Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 6 http://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/documents/galginaitisca…’s Talk About Families and Loss by Carol Galginaitis Three-ring...

I was astonished to hear a highly intelligent boy of ten remark after the sudden death of his father: "I know father’s dead, but what I can’t understand is why he doesn’t come home to supper." — Sigmund Freud, Interpretation of Dreams Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that...

Here are some ways others have found to cope with grief. What would you add? Create visual art: painting, collages, photography, or fabric art Put quotes on your refrigerator. Example: “I will turn to her as often as possible in gladness. I will even salute her with a laugh. The less I mourn her...

Make 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?...

Activity time: 10 minutes Distribute Handout 2, Ways to Cope with Grief and ask participants to read it. Invite them to gather in a circle, and, as they are ready, to read one item from the handout that appeals to them or to share their own way to cope with grief....

Activity time: 5 minutes Share with participants any updates on upcoming plans. Distribute Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 5. Either distribute copies of Handout 3, Loss: The Litmus Test of a Religious Faith, from Workshop 3, or include a link to the handout in your customization of Handout 1.

Activity time: 30 minutes Post the newsprint with Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief. Introduce a discussion, saying: Kübler-Ross’s work was very helpful when it was published in 1969. Her work pushed Western culture into a new understanding of grief. Contemporary understanding tells us...

Activity time: 25 minutes Share this quote from “All Our Losses” by John H. Nichols: Since our experiences, perspectives, and theological orientations differ, giving advice is a hazardous matter for anyone. But there is more commonality in our approach to loss and grieving than it might seem.

Activity time: 15 minutes Share “What Personnel Handbooks Never Tell You,” a poem by James A. Autry, first published in 1992: They leave a lot out of the personnel handbooks. Dying, for instance. You can find funeral leave but you can’t find dying. You can’t find what to do when a guy...

Activity time: 30 minutes Invite participants to brainstorm words that they associate with grief and mourning. If after a little while there is a pause in the brainstorm, wait it out by keeping silence for a minute or two. This may allow space for unspoken ideas to come forth....

Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and share these words from Margaret Mead and Rhoda Metraux: Mourning has become unfashionable in the United States. The bereaved are supposed to pull themselves together as quickly as possible and to reweave the torn fabric of life…We do not allow…for...

Read the resources listed in Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 4, from Workshop 3. Post Our Covenant from Workshop 1. Customize and make copies of Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 5 for all participants. Make copies of Handout 2, Ways to Cope with Grief....

Newsprint, markers, and tape Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED/battery-operated candle Our Covenant from Workshop 1 Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 5 Handout 2, Ways to Cope with Grief Three-ring binders with clear plastic covers, one for each participant who does not already have one...

The dead are not under the earth, They are in the fire dying down, They are in the moaning rock, They are in the crying grass, They are in the forest, they are in the home: The dead are not dead. — Birago Diop, 20th century Senegalese poet and storyteller In this workshop, participants will...

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....

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....