Quentin P. Kinnison - A Road Too Short for the Long Journey: Reflections and Resources to Support Grieving People

A Road Too Short for the Long Journey

Reflections and Resources to Support Grieving People

Edited by Quentin P. Kinnison

Foreword by Kevin S. Reimer

A ROAD TOO SHORT FOR THE LONG JOURNEY

Reflections and Resources to Support Grieving People

Copyright 2019 Wipf and Stock Publishers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, W. th Ave., Suite , Eugene, OR 97401 .

Pickwick Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

W. th Ave., Suite

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978 -- 5326 - 3214

hardcover isbn: -- 5326 - 3216

ebook isbn: 9 -- 5326 - 3215

Cataloging-in-Publication data:

Names: Kinnison, Quentin P., editor. | Reimer, Kevin S., foreword writer

Title: A road too short for the long journey : reflections and resources to support grieving people / edited by Quentin P. Kinnison, with a foreword by Kevin S. Reimer.

Description: Eugene, OR : Pickwick Publications, | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: ISBN -- 5326 - 3214 - (paperback) | ISBN -- 5326 - 3216 - (hardcover) | ISBN -- 5326 - 3215 - (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Grief. | Bereavement. | Pastoral care. | Pastoral theology. | Church work with the bereaved. | Death.

Classification: LCC BV 4330 K (print) | LCC BV 4330 (ebook)

Manufactured in the U.S.A. May 22, 2019

For all who mourn and in honor of the loved ones we miss, those named and unnamed.

Now Elimelek, Naomis husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go back, each of you, to your mothers home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, We will go back with you to your people.

But Naomi said, Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for meeven if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sonswould you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD s hand has turned against me!

At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

Look, said Naomi, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.

But Ruth replied, Dont urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.

Ruth :-a NIV

Mourn with those who mourn...

Rom :b NIV

Jesus wept.

John : NIV