Reflections on Death and Grief : Insights for Pastors

""When we are called to minister to the dying and/or bereaved, many of us who count ourselves as servants of God too easily prejudge the matter and rush in with words and a trite formula. Words have become our trade, jargon our bane, and verbiage our downfall. ""Bert Walsh knows this all too well. Only in the last of five chapters does he get around to the things which we are to say in the presence of crisis. But those are words we have long ago learned from reading the New Testament or heard time and again from well-meaning consolers. What is crucial is that which comes before those words are spoken and surrounds them."" --from the Foreword by G. Clarke Chapman Jr. Believing that death and bereavement present pastors and believers with the most extreme challenges to faith, Bert Walsh carefully examines the potential for new discoveries, greater personal growth, and maturity in faith offered to those who minister to the dying and bereaved. With his uncommon insight and measured, simple, purposeful style, the author helps those who minister to the grieving to develop a new sensitivity to both spoken and unspoken needs. He expertly demonstrates that there is a time for words of solace and consolation; there is also a time for silence, a time for touching, a time to share tears. Periods of silence no longer need to be awkward or uncomfortable. Rather, they can become productive moments of quiet reflection and prayer. Ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1981, Dr. Walsh is currently serving as pastor of Heidelberg United Church of Christ, Hatfield, PA. Dr. Walsh received his DMin from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2004, recipient of the Richard J. Rapp Award in Doctor of Ministry Studies. He also holds MAPC, STM, and MDiv degrees.