My Peace I Leave You, My Peace I Give to You
Writing Your Spiritual Last Will and Testament
Jesus’s Last Will and Testament
John 15-18 are Jesus’s Last Will and Testament to his disciples.
My peace I leave to you, My peace I give to you.
John 14: 27
Workshop I
—What spiritual legacy to you want to leave to those who love you?
—How do you express to them what your spiritual life has meant?
—Imagine a reading with your loved ones gathered around, not eager to find out which jewels you left them, but what spiritual gifts you have bequeathed to them.
—The “Ethical Will”
This Resource does not avoid, but does not emphasize spiritual gifts that you want to express. There are some wonderful examples, however, of ethical wills written by people of all ages and in all circumstances.
—What do you want to avoid in your last testament?
—How do you stay away from the general, the platitudes, the clichés?
—If you leave “instructions,” how are these embodied in your spirituality and theology?
—What about forgiveness? What might be some pitfalls here?
—What else?
Here is a wonderful example of a last testament that I found on Beliefnet:
To my children, family and friends:
—When you come across a trinket of mine tucked away in a drawer what will you remember of me? Nothing.
—When you stand there in my living room and see the pictures on the wall, what will they say about me? Nothing.
—When the final check arrives from the insurance company and you are holding it in your hand, what will it say to you? Nothing. My will says nothing about who I am.
—So this is what I want you to know. This is what I want you to remember about me when I'm gone.
Did you know...?
—I was sentimental. Old songs, romantic movies, and happy endings made me cry. I leave for you a sense of caring.
—I loved the sunshine but treasured rainy days too. I leave for you a desire to see the good in everything.
—I stopped my car to look for rainbows whenever I thought there was even a slight possibility of seeing one. I leave for you a positive attitude and the desire to search for beauty when it's not so obvious.
—I often stopped to help someone stranded on the roadside. I leave for you compassion.
—I paid for the meals of perfect strangers just because I thought God wanted me to and I did it anonymously. I leave for you the sound of the still small voice within to guide you in things of the heart.
(Bob Perks, “Where There’s a Will,” beliefnet.com)
Homework—
—Write out some notes, some ideas
—Make an outline, if you need or want to.
—Write a draft, thinking all the while of your audience. Write to that audience, as if you were talking to all you are writing to.
—Put the draft down—in a drawer somewhere—for a week.
—Next Sunday: Part II
