Denise Kingdom Grier, David Blauw and Jonathan Elgersma

A sudden, surprising death. The death of a young person. A funeral for someone with only distant connections to faith and the church. How can pastors and congregations at large respond in light of Christian hope? What does it mean to grieve, but not as those who have “no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13)? On April 20, a group of pastors and interested laypersons gathered at Western Theological Seminary to discuss these, and other, pressing questions. The following adaptation gives some…