A wise, honest companion for the journey through griefWhether you are struggling with your own grief or walking with a friend or family member who is grieving, you know the journey is not smooth or straightforward. The Good Grief Devotional offers wise, honest companionship to those who are struggling with the death of a loved one, a divorce, the loss of a job, or another major life transition.Pastor Brent D. Christianson's fifty-two devotions follow the ten stages of grief outlined in Granger Westberg's helpful book Good Grief, published in 1968. Millions of people have found in it validation for their grief, understanding of their feelings, and a way to live through grief and into a new reality.Christianson begins each stage with a reflection on that aspect of grief and then considers what the stage means for the reader's self-understanding and relationships with other people, creation, and God. Each devotion ends with questions to think about and talk about with another person, healing actions one might take, and a prayer.The Good Grief Devotional provides pastoral care, faces the reality of loss, and points the way to hope. Readers will want to return to this collection year after year as they are changed by their journey.
Brent D. Christianson is a retired pastor (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) who served parishes in Wisconsin and Minnesota for ten years and in campus ministry for twenty-five years. His poetry has been published in books and journals, and he has written studies for the ELCA. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in Northfield, Minnesota. They have three daughters and two grandchildren.
Preface 1 When Hope Is Hard Stage One: We Are in a State of Shock 2. To Stand at a Distance 3. When You Don't Feel 'Wonderfully Made': Shock and Yourself 4. If You Want to Talk: Shock and Others 5. In Bodies So Breakable: Shock and Creation 6. Draw Near, O Love: Shock and God Stage Two: We Express Emotion 7. Sighs Too Deep for Words 8. Sometimes We Need Yells: Emotions and Yourself 9. Wounded Healers All: Emotions and Others 10. Dialogues with the World Around Us: Emotions and Creation 11. Being Honest with God: Emotions and God Stage Three: We Feel Depressed and Lonely 12. A Necessary Slowing Down 13. Sometimes, a Stranger: Depression and Yourself 14. An Invisible Blanket: Depression and Others 15. When the Full Moon Is Hidden: Depression and Creation 16. Take My Hand, Precious Lord: Depression and God Stage Four: We May Experience Physical Symptoms of Distress 17. I Am Weary with My Crying 18. I Just Don't Feel Like Myself: Your Body and Yourself 19. He Looks Up and Says 'Thanks': Your Body and Others 20. To Rest in the Grace of the World: Your Body and Creation 21. Touched by God's Own Presence: Your Body and God Stage Five: We May Become Panicky 22. Am I Losing My Mind? 23. When We Feel Powerless: Panic and Yourself 24. The Presence of One Who Shares: Panic and Others 25. The Promise of the Rainbow: Panic and Creation 26. A Healing Voice: Panic and God Stage Six: We Feel a Sense of Guilt about the Loss 27. Create in Me a Clean Heart 28. We CanAt Avoid It: Guilt and Yourself 29. We Do Have Options: Guilt and Others 30. To Blame or to Accept: Guilt and Creation 31. Steadfast Love and Mercy: Guilt and God Stage Seven: We Are Filled with Anger and Resentment 32. A Gap An Emptiness 33. Wrestling Our Resentments: Anger and Yourself 34. We Don't Need a Scapegoat: Anger and Others 35. The Ability to Say Goodbye: Anger and Creation 36. Disappointed?: Anger and God Stage Eight: We Resist Returning 37. To Remember, To Forget 38. Who Am I?: Returning and Yourself 39. Go Home to Your Friends: Returning and Others 40. For the Winter Is Now Past: Returning and Creation 41. An End to Childish Ways: Returning and God Stage Nine: Gradually Hope Comes Through 42. Something Quite Unexpected 43. The Blue Water Ahead: Hope and Yourself 44. Friendships-New and Renewed: Hope and Others 45. All Nature Sings: Hope and Creation 46. Simple Things: Hope and God Stage Ten: We Struggle to Affirm Reality 47. Not as Those Who Have No Hope 48. A New Home: Reality and Yourself 49. People Who Need People: Reality and Others 50. A Renewed World: Reality and Creation 51. The Day the Lord Has Made: Reality and God 52. Grief and Hope
"In The Good Grief Devotional: 52 Weeks toward Hope, Christianson has crafted a delightful companion to Granger Westberg's seminal Good Grief. Christianson writes that his wish for this book it to brings its readers hope. And it does. Through a healing recipe of Scripture, poetry, wisdom, and prayer, Christianson brings an offering that I would have been delighted to give to each grieving family in my thirty-plus years as a parish pastor. I can offer no higher praise than that." --Rick Hoyme, retired ELCA bishop and pastor "For years I had a supply of Granger Westberg's classic Good Grief in my pastoral office. I gave one to people who were going through rough waters. Brent D. Christianson's devotional book will be even more helpful for those who have been struck by divorce, death, or another form of loss. Through poetry, lyrical prose, and story, the book speaks openly about the pain of grief and points the reader in the direction of comfort and grace. If read slowly and savored, the fifty-two short chapters promise to bring healing and even joy." --Bill White, ELCA pastor, Madison, Wisconsin "Grief work is indeed good and holy, as Christianson notes. He is a compassionate, hopeful companion for those in the midst of that work. The poems, lyrics, stories, and prayers he has gathered will provide comfort and encouragement in the first year of grief and beyond." --Carla Dahl, Luther Seminary "Brent D. Christianson has written a book of devotions that is an articulate, thoughtful, and helpful response to Granger Westberg's now classic book on the ten stages of grief, Good Grief. Drawing from his personal experience of grief and loss, Holy Scripture, and a deep well of verse written both by him and others more widely read or sung, Christianson invites us to reflect on and share our own experience of grief and loss.Christianson's prose is concise and clear. He uses words and imagery that draw us in and help us clarify our own thoughts and feelings about loss and grief. Perhaps what I appreciate most is his faithful dialogue with the biblical texts and the short prayers that close each devotional chapter with a light touch to help heal the grieving heart.As a chaplain and director of spiritual care at a retirement community, I am moved to invite him to share this book and his experience with our residents, family, and staff." --Kristine Braaten-Lee, chaplain, Northfield Retirement Community
