{"id":36646,"date":"2017-06-17T10:49:55","date_gmt":"2017-06-17T15:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=36646"},"modified":"2017-06-17T10:49:55","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T15:49:55","slug":"in-the-face-of-death-peace-at-the-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/17\/in-the-face-of-death-peace-at-the-last\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Face of Death: Peace at the Last"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about a brief ritual, created by the Diocese of Speyer, Germany, for those accompanying the dying and present at the moment of death.\u00a0 Different from the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, this blessing ritual (Sterbesegen<\/em>) could be used by anybody, lay or ordained.\u00a0 Today, I write to draw your attention to another resource, quite different from the above-mentioned blessing ritual, yet equally \u2013 if not more \u2013 compelling: its language is English!<\/p>\n

I first encountered the ideas behind Peace at the Last: Visitation with the Dying <\/em>(Augsburg Fortress 2016) when a pastoral team from Lake Chelan Lutheran Church in Chelan, WA, introduced their ministry of accompaniment of the dying at the Yale ISM Congregations Project a few years ago.\u00a0 The team included a musician who was composing music for the developing liturgy and a visual artist who created watercolor images to be included in the book.<\/p>\n

Rooted in the deep experience of accompanying the dying in this one congregation, the now published ritual book includes some precious features.\u00a0 Among these is to gather the Church Visitation Group in the sanctuary first, by the font, for a brief prayer, reading, and blessing.\u00a0 Those appointed to actually visit then follow a simple ritual in the room of the dying person of greeting, prayer, song, and psalms.\u00a0 Ample room is given to meditative silence, as needed.\u00a0 Communion may be celebrated.\u00a0 Toward the end, there is a ritual moment described as \u201csending\u201d that includes making the sign of the cross (oil may be used) on the forehead, ears, eyes, lips, heart, shoulders, hands, and feet of the dying.\u00a0 It is essentially a ritual permission to \u201clet go and let God\u201d (my words).\u00a0 For the signing of the shoulders, for example, the text suggests these words to be spoken to the dying person as they are signed:<\/p>\n

\u201cReceive the cross on your shoulders,<\/p>\n

that you may lay down the yoke you have borne<\/p>\n

and put your burdens to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

A simple, sung Nunc Dimittis in English and a concluding prayer bring the ritual to a close.<\/p>\n

There are many things I appreciate about this ritual.\u00a0 First is the commitment to stark truth-telling: \u00a0There is no hiding the fact here that someone is dying.\u00a0 The second is the depth of ecclesial accompaniment:\u00a0 Someone is dying, and the church \u2013 its people, prayers, songs, and images \u2013 are there, drawing close in accompaniment at this crucial point in a person\u2019s life.\u00a0 Note that this is not a visit by the minister alone, or a gathering of the family, but a visitation by a small group of parishioners.\u00a0 Third, and most importantly, there is a strong, compelling Christian faith here: in a God who created us and at the end of our lives calls us into God\u2019s own eternal presence.<\/p>\n

And for those who do not envision themselves as part of such a ministry of visiting the dying, I encourage you to get this beautiful little book nevertheless.\u00a0 All of us, after all, will be in the role of \u201cthe dying one\u201d someday, and whatever a convincing ars moriendi<\/em> might look like in our day (we desperately need one), Peace at the Last<\/em> is an excellent start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about a brief ritual, created by the Diocese of Speyer, Germany, for those accompanying the dying and present at the moment of death.\u00a0 Different from the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, this blessing ritual (Sterbesegen) could be used by anybody, lay or ordained.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3119,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIn the Face of Death: Peace at the Last - 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