“Facing Mortality Together” is Here to Honor’s intro to death education class, designed to help us grow in language, fluency, and comfort in talking about the difficult topics that surround death. Together in a relaxed, small group setting, we will explore aspects of facing our personal mortality while examining the landscape of death and dying in modern America through the lens of Christian faith traditions and practices.

This class is presented as a one-day intensive, with three sessions, and a follow-up one-hour fourth session on Zoom on Friday, June 20, 12:00 to 1:00 pm.

Each session includes group discussions, research findings, personal anecdotes, individual reflection, and creative exercises.

This intensive is geared towards church and ministry leaders and is meant to be a purposeful pause on the calendar, space and time devoted to becoming more death literate and attuned to our own end-of-life needs. We strongly believe that in doing this work for ourselves, it helps us to walk with others on the end-of-life journey.

SESSION 1

Identify social, cultural, technological, historical, and medical factors that shape our views on death
Refer to the Ars Moriendi and adapt “The Art of Dying” tenets to modern times
Discuss the concept of “dying well” and consider the definitions of a “good death”

SESSION 2

Examine the importance of acknowledging our finitude
Discover ways to “hold space” for mortality
Practice integrating end-of-life perspective into our day-to-day

SESSION 3

Demystify basic end-of-life planning
Consider the paperwork and people involved at end of life
Recognize ways to build support networks and expand one’s community

SESSION 4 (ZOOM)

Take a closer look at end-of-life planning paperwork

One-day intensive schedule overview:

9:30am: Check-in
10:00am-12:00pm: First Session
12:00-12:30pm: Lunch break (lunch included)
12:30pm-2:30pm: Second Session
2:30pm-4:30pm: Third Session & Wrap-up

Fourth session on Zoom: June 20, Friday, 12:00-1:00 pm

About Here to Honor
Since its founding in 2020, Here to Honor has envisioned end of life as a journey that can actually lead to stronger relationships and being more fully engaged in the present. We believe that death, as a shared human experience, can be approached with hope and togetherness. Our mission is to cultivate community around end-of-life learning so that everyone feels supported in facing mortality and equipped to make informed decisions.