What about Suicide?

What about Suicide?

          I hope you had a chance to see the interview last week on CNN with Rick and Kay Warren as they met with Piers Morgan.  Rick is the well-known pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of several best-selling books.

            Basically, the interview wanted to know how they, as a pastor family, dealt with the recent death of their son by suicide.  Rick and Kay were intensely honest and vulnerable about the experience and helpful in understanding the realities and the pain that go with this increasing epidemic in our nation.

            Most of us don’t want to even think about this.  At the same time, many of us have been forced to.  I have been interested in the number of emails and conversations I have had with many of you in the last week or so as we broach this topic.  The circumstances are different, but all around it there is personal pain that often meets good people who don’t quite know what to do or how to respond.

            The scenario reminds me of Jesus as he gathered around the tomb with Mary and Martha.  Their brother Lazarus had been in the tomb for three days, but even so, Jesus instructed them to roll away the stone.  The sisters were hesitant.  Behind that stone was nothing but the foul aftermath of death.  Even so, Jesus told them to push it aside.  They did.  Then, Jesus did what Jesus does.  He spoke into the darkness, and all that was in that tomb, and out came new life.

            This weekend, as we speak to this hard topic of suicide, I am praying that Jesus will do it again.  Every one of us would rather keep that stone in place over this darkness.  But this weekend, with humility, love, fear, and holding on to Jesus, we will remove it.  As we will see, despite the darkness, the church has a word to offer.  In this place of seeming hopelessness, the church can and should offer hope.  Corrie Ten Boom used to say: “There is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still.”  In that confidence, join me in praying that throughout our weekend services, Jesus will do it again, and we will be able to offer a word of hope, even to the darkness that is suicide.  See you there,

 

Pastor Pete   

Is There a Hell and Do People Go There?

Is There a Hell and Do People Go There?

 

            These days, as we all face the temptation to be and do "church lite", we must remember that there are simply times when the church has to go deeper.  This is one of those times.  This weekend, we are going to address fundamental, eternal, and very hard questions.  Ironically we are going to be speaking to two curse words; hell and damnation.  In effect, we are  asking if those words are real.

            In one sense, there is no shortage of opinion.  Awhile back, I was watching a talk show as the host interviewed a representative from a well-known but very controversial church.  The representative was very clear about it and did not hesitate to name specifically who was going to hell and who was not. 

            On the other side of the equation, I remember a conversation I had with a long time church member from another place.  She was very clear.  She said that she simply chose not to believe in hell, end of story.  Needless to say, the conversation didn’t last very long.

            If we are honest, most of us are somewhere in the murky middle.  Pastor and author Timothy Keller, in a recent article, reports that according to a recent survey, 64% of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die, but less than 1% think they might go to hell.  C.S. Lewis used to say that when we get to heaven we are going to be surprised at who is there and surprised at who is not there.

            The contemporary church needs to address this “murky middle”.  What we think about the afterlife really does matter. It should and does make a difference on how we act every day. 

            So I invite you to join us for worship this Sunday morning.  With humility, fear, and an earnest desire to hear truth, let’s see what the Bible has to say about this dark side of the afterlife.  I think you will find that there is much more to it than simplistic images of eternal fire and devils with pitch forks.  In our day and age, when so many are living in hell on this side of eternity, we all need to pay attention to the same Christ, who still says, “I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades…”  See you on Sunday morning!

In Christ,

Pastor Pete