Dear Friends,
Thank you to everyone who joined us last Sunday, when I preached on how to have a good death. We covered tender ground. For the first time publicly, I shared my own experience with medically assisted suicide, and I was moved by the open hearts with which you received it. Thank you for the heartfelt sharing that followed. If you’d like to talk about planning for your own death, or about anything the sermon stirred in you, please reach out to me.
If you missed the sermon, you can watch it HERE.
Election Day
The big news in Washington this week was Tuesday’s election. Whatever your politics, one thing heartened me: many of the winning candidates spoke openly about their faith as a source of compassion. It was a hopeful answer to a cruel Christian nationalism that has turned good people away from the church. We need more leaders in both parties who choose compassion over contempt.
This Sunday
This Sunday at 6 PM ET, I’ll answer one of the questions I hear most often: How is Swedenborgianism different from other religions? I’ll explore the origins of our church and the theological ideas that set it apart, beginning with the heart of it all.
With gratitude and blessings,
Rev. Rich Tafel
Readings for the Coming Sunday
Matthew 22:37–40
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
Swedenborg's Insights
Doctrine of Life §1
All religion is of the life, and the life of religion is to do that which is good.
Church of the Holy City: My Death Kit
A checklist for preparing a good death, for yourself and the people you love
Preparing for death is one of the most loving gifts we can give our families. It spares them hard guesses in a hard season, and it frees us to spend our last days on what we hold dear. Work through this list a little at a time. Keep everything in one folder or binder, and tell your executor and health care agent where to find it.
1. Legal Documents
- Will. Names your executor and who receives what. Review it after any major life change.
- Trust, if needed. Ask an attorney whether a revocable trust would help your family avoid probate.
- Durable financial power of attorney. Names someone to manage your money if you can’t.
- Health care power of attorney. Names the person who speaks for you in medical decisions.
- Advance directive or living will. States the care you want, and don’t want, at the end of life.
- Medical orders for serious illness. In DC, ask your doctor about MOST (Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment).
- HIPAA authorization. Lets your loved ones speak with your doctors.
- Guardian for minor children and a plan for pets.
2. Medical Wishes
- Talk with your health care agent and family about what a good death looks like for you.
- Talk with your doctor about your options, including hospice, palliative care, and the choices available where you live.
- Decide on resuscitation and life support, and record your choices.
- Register as an organ donor, or arrange whole-body donation, if you wish.
- List your doctors, medications, and insurance cards.
3. Financial Information
- A list of all accounts: bank, retirement, investment, and credit cards.
- Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts. These pass outside your will, so check them.
- Insurance policies: life, long-term care, home, and auto.
- Deeds, titles, and the location of any safe deposit box and its key.
- Debts and recurring bills, including what is on autopay.
- Recent tax returns, and contact information for your accountant and financial advisor.
- Business interests and who should step in.
4. Digital Life
- A password manager with an emergency access contact, or a secure, written list kept with your documents.
- Legacy settings: Apple Legacy Contact, Google Inactive Account Manager, and a Facebook legacy contact.
- How to unlock your phone and computer.
- Subscriptions to cancel, and photos, writings, and files to preserve.
5. Funeral and Memorial Wishes
- Burial, cremation, or green burial, and where you wish to rest.
- Your memorial service: readings, music, clergy, and the place.
- A draft obituary, or the key facts your family will need.
- Charities to name in lieu of flowers.
- Any prepaid plans, and veterans’ or burial benefits you are entitled to.
6. People to Contact
- Your executor, attorney, accountant, financial advisor, doctors, and pastor.
- Family, friends, and colleagues to notify, with phone numbers and email addresses.
- Who should receive specific belongings, written down to spare your family hard decisions.
7. Household
- Keys, alarm codes, and home instructions.
- Care for pets and plants.
- Vehicles, mail, and utilities.
8. Spiritual and Emotional Preparation
- Letters to the people you love, to be read after you are gone.
- An ethical will: the values, lessons, and blessings you hope to pass on.
- Relationships to mend, and forgiveness to offer or ask for while there is time.
- Prayers, scriptures, and music you would like near you at the end.
- A conversation with your pastor about your hopes and fears, and about death as a passage into the spiritual world.
Helpful Resources
- The Conversation Project: free guides for talking with loved ones about end-of-life wishes.
- Five Wishes: an easy-to-read advance directive.
- PREPARE for Your Care: free, step-by-step help with advance directives.
- CaringInfo: free advance directive forms for each state and DC.
- Death Over Dinner: ideas for hosting a conversation about death with friends and family.
Keep It Current
Review your kit once a year, and after any marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, or diagnosis. Give copies of key documents to your executor and health care agent.
This checklist is for general guidance. Please consult an attorney for legal documents and your doctor for medical decisions. To talk about your own planning, contact Rev. Rich Tafel through the church website.
Upcoming Events at Swedenborg House DC
ONGOING: The CHC Read & Discuss Group | Mondays at 7 PM ET
Current Read: The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning
We hope you’ll consider joining the weekly CHC Read and Discuss Book Club, a welcoming, member-led gathering that has brought our community together for more than a decade. Meeting on Zoom, the group offers an opportunity to explore the readings, share perspectives, and enjoy thoughtful conversation. Please note that the book club is led by members, with Rev. Tafel not typically in attendance. Zoom link HERE.
Events of Interest Outside the Church
Part 5 of The Long Shadow of WWI , with Dell Rose from the Swedenborg Library of Chicago | Thursday, November 5th | 7:00 PM ET
Zoom link HERE.
Church Membership
Interested in becoming an official member of the Church of the Holy City or taking the next step in your spiritual journey through baptism? We’d love to hear from you! Whether you’re new to our community or have been joining us for a while, we want to help you explore what membership in our church or baptism might look like for you. Please reach out to Rev. Rich Tafel through the church website, and we’ll be happy to walk you through the process.
Notes from the Pastor's Desk
Religion News Service has published a thoughtful piece by Jack Jenkins, “On Election Night, the Religious Left Is Back.” It looks at how candidates from Texas to Kansas spoke openly about their faith and values, and what that may mean for the relationship between religion and politics. I hope you’ll give it a read HERE and share your thoughts and questions.
Thought of the Week
