{"id":41975,"date":"2014-09-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/preventing-suicide\/"},"modified":"2014-09-01T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T12:00:00","slug":"preventing-suicide","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/preventing-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suicide has been in the news a lot lately. And unfortunately, many of us Christians don't know how to respond in a healthy way to issues of potential suicide or the aftermath of suicide. But in a CT interview, expert and author Karen Mason talks about the many powerful ways that a church can respond to issues of suicide.<\/p>\n\n

\n

She concludes: We in the community of faith offer prayer to the Great Physician for healing for our suicidal brothers and sisters. We stand firm with them because their hope is eroded, and we claim for them our faithful certainty in the God who is present, loving, and sovereign. We lament the brokenness of this world, and wait for God to redeem all suffering and create a new heaven and earth. In the meantime, we help people get treatment. Following a suicide, we offer a non-judgmental ministry of presence. We allow lament, 'Why, God?' We offer practical help like meals or visits or babysitting for the long haul. Whatever a community of faith does following other deaths, they ought to do following a suicide. And in that way, we take a hopeful step in preventing suicide by recognizing it and talking about it.<\/p>\n

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