“Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did,

we would do things differently.” – Morrie Schwartz

 

What would you do differently?

 

 

Welcome to the Journey

 

Living Till We Die is a curriculum that can begin this conversation in:

 

Sunday School

Older Adult Programs

Retreats

Small Group Bible Study

Stephens Ministry Groups

Many other possible settings for congregational or personal use

 

The Study Guide offers complete session plans, activities, handouts and resources to enable congregational leaders to develop a course for their own setting.

 

 

What the curriculum is about

 

 

Six sessions are offered for facing the challenge:  How do we, as people of faith, put into practice our hope – living fully the days God has given us?

 

The goal of the course is to couple the resources hospice offers with the needs of faith communities in talking about death.  Open conversation can enable hospice to reach out to people sooner with a wealth of support for that final journey.  Great benefits occur when these conversations begin within the life of the local congregation.

 

The course grew out of a faith practices approach which represents a refusal to leave our beliefs in the realm of theory, insisting that they can make a difference in how we live our lives.  The study guide for Living Till We Die serves as a companion to the book, Practicing Our Faith, A Way of Life for a Searching People, ed. Dorothy C. Bass, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997.  Twelve faith practices are presented in the book.  The study guide focuses on six of those, exploring them through an end-of-life lens.  These time-honored spiritual practices have much wisdom to offer from that perspective.

 

The six practices are: 

 

 

Honoring the Body

 

 

 

Keeping Sabbath

 

 

 

 

Forgiveness

 

 

 

Healing 

 

 

 

 

Dying Well

 

 

 

Singing Our Lives

 

 

The Study Guide is laid out in two parts: 

 

PART ONE  begins with a section entitled “How to Get Started.”  This introduces the course and gives helpful tips for developing and leading the course.  We offer suggestions on “who, when, and how” to prepare for the study.

           

What follow are the session plans for each of the six faith practices.

 

 

Each session plan is comprised of these elements:

v      Background

v      Focus of the session

v      Room set-up

v      You will need…

v      You may need…

 

v      Before the session

v      Opening

v      Suggested Talking Points, Activities,  and Music to choose from, with time frame for each

v      Closing

 

* * * * *

 

PART TWO complements and builds on the session plans.  Here you will find the resources you need to lead the sessions.  They are in four sections:

 

            Talking Points – outlines for the leader to use in conveying the main points and questions to spark          

                                      discussion for each of the 6 faith practices.

Activities – step-by-step instructions for leading activities mentioned in the session.

            Handouts – photocopy-ready sheets to be distributed to participants

            Resources – specifics given on resources mentioned in the study guide

                            Print:  notes given on books and articles

                            Audio/video:  information on CDs/ videos

                            Other:  obtaining materials, e.g. finger labyrinth

 

 

Copies of Living Till We Die: a journey of faith practices

are available from Hospice of the Upstate.   

 

For more information, please click here:

 

 

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