{"product_id":"walking-lois-home-living-out-our-christian-call-to-love-the-sick-and-dying-michael-and-tracy-balboni","title":"Walking Lois Home: Living Out Our Christian Call to Love the Sick and Dying - Michael and Tracy Balboni","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePractical Christian Wisdom for Walking Alongside the Sick and Dying\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLois was a retired ballroom dance instructor with a terminal cancer diagnosis and no one to call. The day she received her prognosis, she tentatively reached out to the pastor of a church she had attended as a child. In response, Michael and Tracy Balboni brought Lois into their home to care for her through her final months.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJesus said that visiting the sick is visiting him (Matthew 25). Caring for the sick and dying is not optional for followers of Jesus--but most of us feel wholly unprepared for it, uncertain what to say, what to do, or how to enter someone else's suffering with grace and love. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWalking Lois Home\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e fills that gap.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten by a uniquely qualified husband-and-wife team--Michael Balboni, co-director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard and a pastor in Boston; and Tracy Balboni, professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard--this book draws on both rigorous research and lived pastoral and medical experience to equip three distinct audiences:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e● Individuals--who want to know what to say, what to do, and how to show up for a seriously ill friend, neighbor, or family member with grace rather than awkwardness\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e● Congregations--who want to build a culture of care for the seriously ill and dying, understanding this ministry as central to the church's calling rather than peripheral to it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e● Patients--who are navigating serious illness themselves and want to do so with faith, meaning, and the support of a Christian community\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFramed by Lois's story and illuminated by multiple patient accounts, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWalking Lois Home\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e offers medical, theological, and pastoral wisdom woven together in a way that no other book in this space has attempted. It is at once a call to the church, a practical guide for individuals, and a companioning resource for patients--grounded in more than 50 peer-reviewed publications in spirituality and medicine and in years of ministry and clinical care alongside the seriously ill.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJesus calls us to care for the sick as an act of service to him. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWalking Lois Home\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e will show you how to answer that call--with faith, grace, and love.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Baker Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67764329283903,"sku":"9781540905437","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0728\/7731\/0271\/files\/9781540905437.webp?v=1792074382","url":"https:\/\/morningstarbookstore.com\/products\/walking-lois-home-living-out-our-christian-call-to-love-the-sick-and-dying-michael-and-tracy-balboni","provider":"Morning Star Christian Bookstores","version":"1.0","type":"link"}