The Last Journey: Reflections for the Time of Grieving: Including a CD of 17 Songs - Softcover

Bell, John L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 028108002X ISBN 13: 9780281080021

Publisher: SPCK Publishing, 2018

Synopsis

The need to express grief, to sing our sorrow, is as old as humanity. The book of Psalms, side by side with expressions of deepest praise, contains cries of unfathomable despair. Both are not only acceptable to God, but essential for our mental and spiritual health.

In The Last Journey, John Bell explores the myriad emotions that accompany loss, offering us a way to grieve, to search through the struggle before us - and perhaps enabling us to find the courage to face the world with a renewed sense of hope.

About this title

About the Author

John Bell is a member of the Iona Community, an ordained minister and a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day'. Over many years, he has consistently been one of the biggest draws at the Greenbelt Festival, and his work as a teacher and speaker takes him frequently into Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America. At Greenbelt 2017, John disclosed that he was gay, feeling he could no longer keep silent after the suicide of a teenage girl who was afraid to tell her parents about her sexuality. He had remained celibate and without a partner because he believed this enabled him to work without hindrance or compromise as a public Christian and fulfil his commitments in the area of worship in the Church of Scotland.

From the Back Cover

[Category: Bereavement]

A hauntingly elegiac recording of songs to offer comfort in bereavement, accompanied by a beautifully designed book.

The need to express grief, to sing our sorrow, is as old as humanity. The book of Psalms, side by side with expressions of deepest praise, contains cries of unfathomable despair. Both are not only acceptable to God, but essential for our mental and spiritual health.

In The Last Journey, John Bell explores the myriad emotions that accompany loss, offering us a way to grieve, to search through the struggle before us - and perhaps enabling us to find the courage to face the world with a renewed sense of hope.


[To go on half title page; not on back cover.]

John Bell is a member of the Iona Community, an ordained minister and a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day'. Over many years, he has consistently been one of the biggest draws at Greenbelt, and his work takes him frequently into Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America. One of his primary concerns has always been the renewal of congregational worship at the grass-root level. In 1999, he was honoured by the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Royal School of Church Music, which bestowed a Fellowship on him; in 2002, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow.

At the Greenbelt Festival in 2017, John disclosed that he was gay, feeling that he could no longer keep silent after the suicide of a teenage girl who was afraid to tell her parents about her sexuality. He had remained celibate and without a partner because he believed that doing so enabled him to work without hindrance or compromise as a public Christian and to fulfil his commitments in the area of worship in the Church of Scotland.

Edition details

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 028108002X
• ISBN 13: 9780281080021
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96