Day 339 - Having a Grief Night

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Having a Grief Night Day 339 There is great strength in community, the coming together in Christ and building up of one another to love and good deeds. And there are times when a person needs community more than ever. Dr. Larry Crabb shares how his Sunday school class has responded to this need by implementing a practice called a grief night. "We're there basically to pour something of the reality of Christ into the one who is bereaved," says Dr. Crabb. Here are the steps to holding a grief night for a person who is grieving: Plan a time to meet together as a group. To begin the grief night, light a candle to symbolize the one who is not there. Have others ask the grieving person random questions about the loved one who has died to get to know the deceased individual better. "What do you miss the most about your loved one?" "What places or smells bring back special memories?" Also ask tough questions such as, "Did your lost loved one make financial and other preparations for those they would leave behind?" Let the person talk. After about an hour of questions, tears, and sharing, take time to respond to the grieving person. This is not a time for platitudes and advice, but for a pouring out of love and connectedness from one heart to another. Next is prayer time. Have the grieving person sit in the center of the group, and people who want to can lay their hands on the bereaved person. Then come before God in worship and in pleading and petition for the bereaved. Last is song time. Sing favorites of the one who died or of the one who is grieving. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25). Loving Father, healing is possible in the community of believers. Lead me to meet together regularly with other people who believe in You. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755