A
Necessary Grief: Essential Tools for Leadership in Bereavement Ministry
by Larry J. Michael
What are the necessary tools in bereavement ministry
and how do we minister well to others dealing with the downtrodden? These questions are at the heart of Larry J.
Michael’s new book called A Necessary
Grief: Essential Tools for Leadership in Bereavement Ministry.
The best part of the book is Larry’s
insistence on making clear distinctions between various terminology and
offering a holistic view of ministry to those going through loss.
In the beginning of the book, Larry helps the reader
by differentiating between grief and mourning.
Larry writes, “Grief is the inward process that involves our thoughts
and feelings after experiencing loss. Mourning
is the outward process that involves the expression of our grief. It is often referred to as “grief that has
gone public (24).” Mourning is the sign
that we see all around us with morose faces, gloomy expression, and looking
like a person is not fully alive. Grief
is the inward process, the questioning, the deep wellspring of loss that we
feel as we know that person is no longer with us.
Secondly, Larry carefully brings up some fallacies of
grief that we often come across in daily life.
One of them, “Grief is something to Get Over,” was one I hear
often. Larry writes, “Grief is not an
illness from which someone must recover.
It is a process to which a person experiences change and transformation
over a period of time (55).” Larry
points to King David as one who grieved dearly after the death of his son
Absalom, never fully recovering from his grief but enduring it till his
death. I would add that many people don’t
know what to say to someone grieving deeply and so words are better left
unsaid. Larry also brings up the vital
truth that faith doesn’t make grieving easy.
The comments that someone is in a better place don’t take away the fact
that they are gone from a person’s life.
Overall, I think this is a very good book and one
that I will go back to when ministering to those in grieving situations. There are also good sections on children
dealing with grief.
Thanks to Kregel Ministry for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Comments
Post a Comment