I drove over to Redhill this afternoon to address 140 year 10 RE students on the subject of ‘death’. St Bede’s (http://www.st-bedes.surrey.sch.uk) is an ecumenical comprehensive school with great staff and students. I had been asked some time ago to address the subject of death, etc and wondered what I would face. They were good kids and I went away wishing I’d had longer to talk with some of them.
Death is still not something our culture handles very well. It seems to me that the Church doesn’t always handle it well either. I believe that Christian hope is rooted not in a system, but in the person of God who raised Jesus Christ from death, thus denying that violence and destruction have the final word in this world – despite the apparent evidence around us. Furthermore, I am not a Christian because being so will guarantee my eternal destiny – there is something narcisstic about that – but because I believe the truth about God is to be found in Jesus who was raised. So, I’ll follow him whatever life throws at me.
After all, Christmas celebrates God opting into the world. His followers have no option but to do the same – come what may. The rest is detail.
January 15, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I was doing a ministry development review today for a colleague. She pointed out how she felt her ministry was impeded and distorted by people in her parish refusing to contemplate the death of things that ought to have been buried years ago. To say something is no longer doing anything much and needs to die was too threatening to some, and therefore we all pretend it’s OK really. But if we really believe in death and resurrection, she said, what’s our problem about being honest? Surely Christians should be the people who can be honest in these circumstances…
January 16, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Hello, Nick – what would you say if you were this man’s employer?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7832647.stm