1. 1 Living with God through… Bereavement

2. 2 Bereavement

3. 3 Bereavement

4. 3 questions:  1.What is bereavement?  2.What is the Christian response?  3.When will bereavement be no more? 4 Living with God through… Bereavement

5.  1.What is bereavement?  ‘ the action or condition of being bereaved’  ‘ a period of mourning after a loss, especially after the death of a loved one’  bereavement comes from ‘be-reave-n’ (OE)  ‘reave’ = Old English: to rob or to deprive 5 Living with God through… Bereavement

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7.  The 4 stages of bereavement (source: )  1. Accepting... that your loss is real  2. Experiencing... the pain and the grief  3. Adjusting... to life without the person  4. Replacing... the pain with new life 7 Living with God through… Bereavement

8.  1.What is bereavement?  2. What is the Christian response?  ‘Christian Hope’ ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’ Hebrews 11.1 8 Living with God through… Bereavement

9.  2. What is the Christian response?  “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God... He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Matt 22.29-30 9 Living with God through… Bereavement

10.  2. What is the Christian response?  “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God... He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Matt 22.29-30  ‘ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope’. 1 Thes 4.13 10 Living with God through… Bereavement

11.  2. What is the Christian response?  “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord’ Rom 14.8  ‘a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance’ Eccles. 3.4 11 Living with God through… Bereavement

12.  2. What is the Christian response?  ‘ the last enemy to be destroyed is death’ 1 Cor 15.26  “Death has been swallowed up in victory”. Isa 25.8 12 Living with God through… Bereavement

13.  2. What is the Christian response?  “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Hosea 13.14  ‘Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor 15.58 13 Living with God through… Bereavement

14.  1.What is bereavement?  2. What is the Christian response?  3. When will bereavement be no more?  "a new heaven and a new earth” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away Rev 21.1  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. Rev 21.3 14 Living with God through… Bereavement

15. 15 Living with God through… Bereavement