Week 1: Preface & Introduction — The Experience of Loss

1.Sittser opens by describing the accident that took his mother, his wife Lynda, and his four-year-old daughter Diana Jane in a single moment. What was your emotional reaction as you read his account? Did anything surprise you about how he describes those first hours and days?

2.In the new preface to the revised edition, Sittser reflects on what he has learned in the years since the book was first published. What did he add or revise, and what does that revision tell you about the nature of grief itself — that it keeps teaching us?

3.Sittser is clear that he wrote this book not as a grief manual but as a personal testimony. Why do you think that distinction matters? How might a book written from inside suffering be different from one written about suffering at a safe distance?

4.He famously describes a recurring dream in which he is chasing the setting sun — running west to catch the light, but always falling behind. Then someone suggests he turn east and run into the darkness instead. What do you think that image means? Have you ever experienced a moment when you had to "turn east" rather than flee the darkness?

5.Sittser acknowledges that many people told him early on that he would "get over" his loss. Why does he push back against that language? What would a healthier and more honest expectation of grief look like?

6.Sittser insists that loss is universal — that anyone who loves will eventually grieve. How does that universality shape the way you think about who this book is for? Is there a loss in your own life, large or small, that brought you to this study?

7.Even in the opening pages, Sittser hints that catastrophic loss can lead to a kind of unexpected growth — not in spite of the darkness, but through it. Does that idea seem believable to you right now, or does it feel like a claim you will have to be convinced of? Be honest.

8.How does Sittser's faith factor into the introduction? Does he present Christianity as a shield from suffering or as something else? What is the difference, and why does it matter for how we read the rest of the book?