Peter Roebbelen - Mercy: Life in the Season of Dying

In this sacred journal, Peter vulnerably shares riches stored in secret placesintimate and holy moments with the dying, illuminating the promise of Psalm 116:15: His loved ones are very precious to him, and he does not lightly let them die.

MOIRA BROWN , author, and former host of 100 Huntley Street

To pull life from death is a great calling upon the Christian community. Roebbelens book does this honestly, beautifully, and with a compelling awareness that can only come from a hand that has held many in the journey towards death. I first read this while holding the hand of my sleeping mother, who is in her own season of dying. Having been absent, in a variety of ways, in the death of my father, I am now deeply grateful for a book that calls us (and shows us the way) to presence and life in the season of dying.

GREG PENNOYER ,
Editor of God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas

An open, thoughtful discussion, not just about death, but the journey of life as we face the inevitability of death. This book calls us to live well so that dying well is possible. Most of all, it is an intimate insight to a pastors heartone who has walked openly with people he loved and cared about as they entered the mystery of dying. This is essential reading for anyone entering into the debates of a society fearful of death.

DR. GARY V. NELSON , President, Tyndale University College and Seminary

All of us are already somewhere on the journey toward dying. Whether you are enjoying abundant health or saying goodbyes, Mercy is a guide filled with intimate stories, shared with a shepherds heart and overflowing with precious wisdom not just for dying well but for living well every day.

DR. STEVE A. BROWN , President, Arrow Leadership, and author of Leading Me: Eight Practices for a Christian Leaders Most Important Assignment

Accompanying dying people is the most privileged part of pastoral ministry and also the toughest. This books heartening testimonies demonstrate paradoxical gifts and blessings from the end of life. Discover how a dedicated pastor overcame fear of working with the dying and became an agent of Gods healing and hope in the direst of circumstances.

REV. ARTHUR PAUL BOERS , author of Living into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions

How do you help someone to die? Or those left behind? Realizing he had come up against his own limits as a pastor, Peter Roebbelen turns to the experience of those he has seen over the threshold. In their responses, he discovers what he calls the gifts of dyingwhich, when attended to, can transform the very way we live. Here is an honest account of a believer living at the edge of what we can understand in facing our own shared mortality.

JERUSHA MCCORMACK , author of Grieving, A Beginners Guide

So often in the presence of death the Christian response is to pray for healing so life will continue. Turning that notion on its head, this book demonstrates that life and healing can actually be part of death both for those who are approaching the end of life on the earth as well as for those who are walking with them. But what is both disarming and helpful is that the author gives us a vulnerable glimpse into his own inner discovery around this complex subject, and in the process, invites readers to confront our own journey as we move toward death.

DR. ROD WILSON , former President, Regent College, Vancouver, and co-author of Keeping Faith in Fundraising

Although arguably the most important topic for us all, dying is never easy to discuss. Breathing life into personal stories of death is a wonderful way to engage others in dialogue. In Mercy, Roebbelen does just that, and with the imagery of acknowledging deaths realitynot with our hands up in human submission, but instead with our palms up in Christian surrender.

MEGORY ANDERSON, PHD , author of Sacred Dying Journal: Reflections on Embracing the End of Life

Peter Roebbelen

LIFE IN THE SEASON OF DYING

2018 First Printing

Mercy: Life in the Season of Dying

Copyright 2018 by Peter Roebbelen

ISBN 978-1-61261-783-1

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture references marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked CEB taken from the Common English Bible, CEB Copyright 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The CEB and Common English Bible trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Common English Bible.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Roebbelen, Peter, author.

Title: Mercy : life in the season of dying / Peter Roebbelen.

Description: Brewster, Massachusetts : Paraclete Press Inc., 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017043918 | ISBN 9781612617831 (trade paper)

Subjects: LCSH: DeathReligious aspectsChristianity.

Classification: LCC BT825 .R595 2018 | DDC 248.8/6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017043918

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Paraclete Press

Brewster, Massachusetts

www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

TO SHARON, ERICA, AND JULIA

who keep showing me what it means to live abundantly.

TO MY DEAR FRIEND BOB,

whose spirit of grace, integrity, and kingdom still guides me.

WHEN I BECAME A PASTOR NEARLY 30 YEARS AGO, no one warned me about death and dying. Nobody told me I would watch so many friends die. During one particularly difficult decade, the deaths came in waves. As one wave overwhelmed me emotionally and spiritually, I barely had time to get my head above water and catch my breath before I saw the next wave cresting towards me. I spent weeks, months, and years walking with dear friends, helping them to grieve, and in the process, I did not grieve well. Though I encouraged them to cry, I rarely did. In helping them to die well, I seemed to be living poorly. The weight of sadness darkened my soul.