Foreword

If we are expecting an important event to happen, we will usually wish to prepare for it. Some of us will start to prepare early and make detailed arrangements. Others will leave the preparations to the last minute, so that they require a degree of haste which may damage their completeness. How many of us have left applying for a passport until it is almost too late to book our holiday? Few of us will make no preparations at all.

This book is about an important event which is certain to happen, and it urges us to prepare. That event is our own death. When will it occur? Where will it occur, and in what circumstances? What are its consequences? How can I prepare for an event about which, at the present time, I know so little?

The four authors are Christian people with a wide range of relevant experience on which to draw. They set out the great variety of occurrences that lead up to death – from

the sudden and unexpected, to a long terminal illness. They use the first of these to stress the utility of talking about death now, and they go on to give a rich variety of advice about matters that should be covered in addressing all the circumstances in which death may occur.

Then comes the question of what happens after death. Is death the end, and, if not, what preparation can I make for what follows? This issue is addressed in a way which I

consider readers will find frank and helpful, whatever their views may be before they read it.

Our inclination when we and/or loved ones are enjoying good health, is not to consider how matters may change. This book is a courageous and very well-informed call to take a realistic view from which great benefit could flow.

Lord Mackay of Clashfern