Rev. Dr. David Sherbino was awarded the 2015 Word Guild award in the instructional book category for his book Living, Dying, Living Forever: Spiritual Reflections on the Journey of Life.
Sherbino—professor of spirituality and pastoral ministry at Tyndale University College and Seminary and minister of Cornerstone Community Church in Kleinberg, Ont.—was recognized by the Christian writers’ organization for crafting a book about death and life that captures the reader in its hopeful and light-filled perspective on eternity.
The urgency of working through the realities of death came apparent to Sherbino in conversation with his mother who at the time was facing the hardships of dying.
“It was evident she was dying, and I asked her if she was afraid to die,” Sherbino said. “She told me to keep asking her questions of that sort because it was important and healing for her to explore these questions she had never addressed.”
As a minister of 30 years, Sherbino found himself dealing with many people and families going through seasons of death—a period he felt many people had not felt comfortable even conversing about.
“I have seen families playing out a charade when their dying family members are in the hospital—a charade that the person will be back to normal life in no time,” he said. “I didn’t feel like that was okay. I think it is important to have honesty—to talk about the reality of life. It not only brings closure to life itself, but it also takes away some of the fear and makes death somewhat less stressful. These conversations also allow us to live everyday with greater gratitude.”
Living, Dying, Living Forever features a series of questions after each chapter to serve as a conversation guide not only for people facing death but for people perplexed by or afraid to address death, as a way of instilling a sense of honest hope. To Sherbino, these typically avoided conversations are vitally important to address and work through in order to bring about peace in a fearful time of unknowns.
Sherbino’s book is available for purchase through major book retailers like Amazon and Indigo as well as at the Tyndale bookstore.
An excerpt will appear in the October issue of the Record.
Photo courtesy of David Sherbino
