Canaan UCC began its a six-week community read program of Atul Gawande’s book, “Being Mortal” on Friday May 17 at 9:30 AM.

The next discussion group meets on:

• June 14, Chapter 6: Letting Go
• June 21, Chapter 7: Hard Conversations and Chapter 8: Courage.

Participants should purchase their own copy and read chapter the assigned chapter/s before the each session. If you have missed a session, would like to attend, but cannot attend all of them, come anyway.

Gawande, a surgeon, realized that the typical practice of medicine pushes aside mortality, which can lead to aggressive treatment towards the end of life. Many of us have stories of people we knew whose aggressive medical interventions, though lifesaving, brought a diminished quality of life. The book covers many people and situations to frame life while living with physical decline. Poignantly, as a thread, he wrote about his father, also a surgeon, who facing his own life-threatening condition found meaning for his life, even as his surgical days ended.

The Rev. Quentin Chin, Canaan’s pastor, is leading these sessions. Rev. Chin has served HospiceCare in the Berkshires as a spiritual counselor for over thirteen years. He has walked with people through the end of their lives regardless of their religious beliefs, even people with no belief. He believes that when we come to grasp fully the reality of our mortality, our lives will be richer leading to a more fulfilling life.