Dealing with death

How do you deal with the loss of a loved one? What are we to do with the pain? What hope is there for the future? How do I survive when everything seems bleak when there doesn't seem to be anything but pain?

All these are questions faced by those who have lost family or friends. Often death poses more questions for us than life. Sometimes those questions are about what I could have done better, regrets so often haunt us after we lose those we love, but more often it is to do with our loss.

I was fascinated coming across The Frays song How to Save a Life yesterday, here is a group singing about just those emotions, just those feelings born out their experience of working with recovering drug addicts. So much for the candy floss self absorbed lyrics we expect to see in the top ten. Here is a song that deals meaningfully with death, loss and bereavement and which has struck a chord with thousands who have heard it.

The video in particular is challenging and raises issues, as you watch words like faith, love, and phrases like Don't be afraid of death appear and then fade. It resonates with many who don't know how to deal with the emotional turmoil of the situation they find themselves in. Many have written saying how it has helped them deal with their grief.

How do we help people deal with these things? If the Gospel is the answer, and it is, if the gospel is the hope of the world and it is then we need to be engaged with those around us facing such issues. We need to be engaging with the world, showing love to those who are bereaved, who are struggling, who feel despair, as we do so we will stand out as counter cultural. As we share peoples loss and pain as we open ourselves up and share life with people the gospel can be proclaimed.

Ultimately the only hope we have is the gospel, how tragic if we keep that to ourselves through lack of meaningful relationships.