Ministry & Death

There is no way to really reflect upon the meaning of the Cross and the Resurrection without struggling with the reality of death. The horror and 'wrongness' of death as it is experienced, the tragedy of loss, must be fully wrestled with. But there is also the promise of Resurrection, of new life...hope is the center of Christian faith. But it is a hope that cannot be faced without first facing that which we are granted salvation from: the sting of death. This is a hard subject to broach with young people. I have seen great pain come from a deep discussion of death among the young. As a youth minister, I'd like to just avoid it altogether, but this cannot be. For any ministry that fails to wrestle with the issues of death and dying in the deepest of ways commits a supreme theological error. They end up with Easter without Good Friday, and the Resurrection without the Cross. Such a faith is bound for disillusionment and misdirection. Life and death and new life, hope and tragedy, the death and Return of God. This is life laid bare. This is the meaning of the Gospels.