JR. Forasteros - March 31, 2013
Easter 2013
Through the Resurrection, God calls us to join God in restoring the world. Jesus' resurrection is proof of God's faithfulness to bring life even in the face of death. When we live in the power of Jesus' resurrection, we can step confidently into the calling God has on our lives. We can step out in faith, take the big risk, jump with both feet into God's mission!
From Series: "Already/Not Yet"
Jesus' resurrection wasn't the end of the story; it was the beginning of God's new creation. The Resurrection is God's first step toward reclaiming creation, and we get to be a part of it. By choosing to follow Jesus, we leave the old reality dominated by sin and death and step into God's kingdom, where we find life. This new life has already begun. And yet we're also still waiting, because God's kingdom has not yet come in full. How do we live in the tension between the Already and the Not Yet? This series explores who God calls the Church to be, and how the Holy Spirit enables us to join in God's mission in the space between the Resurrection and the Second Coming. We're not just waiting around for God to show up. God is already here and working, so we're joining in!
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Last month, news broke that rock singer Chris Cornell had committed suicide in the middle of a Soundgarden tour. The news shook our culture, in part because Mr. Cornell seemed so happy. He had a wife and three children, and by all accounts was happily married. He gave no outward indication that he was struggling with depression.
I wrote a post on Facebook, reacting to the tragedy. The thrust of my post was that if even someone like Chris Cornell can struggle with depression, then if you are struggling too, it doesn’t make you weird or broken or a freak. It makes you pretty normal.
I put a plea at the end of my post – if anyone reading was considering doing something similar, would they please talk to someone first? I told them they could contact me if they wanted.
I didn’t expect what happened next – the post went viral. It was shared over 800 times, and over the next couple of days, I received a handful of private messages from people I’d never met who wanted to know if I was serious that they could reach out to me.
Over the next week or so, I had conversations with several people who were at various stages of considering suicide. Again and again, they said the same things.
“I don’t matter. No one cares about it. No one will miss me.”
I don’t matter.
There’s no point.
This sentiment is becoming more and more widespread in our culture.
It’s nothing new. There’s a story our culture has been telling for at least the last 100 years. We find it in philosophers like Nietzsche, who said “our existence has no meaning.” We find it in writers like H. P. Lovecraft who suggest that if there are gods, they are cruel and distant and couldn’t care less about humanity. We find it in scientists like Neil Degrasse Tyson, who tell us that the universe doesn’t have a purpose, but also suggests that the universe is trying hard to kill us.
It has become more and more difficult for our culture to believe that life has a purpose, that we are more than smart monkeys that are terrified of our own impending death.
Which is why we need to confess God as Creator. To say, “I believe in God the creator” is to announce that we believe life has meaning, that we have a purpose, that every single one of us matters.
