Saved From The Void

'Saved From The Void' is the title of an interesting article which I read recently in 'Catalyst' the magazine of the Christian organisation CARE. The article highlights the work of a 16-strong team of chaplains who regularly patrol a six mile stretch of the Sussex coast around Beachy Head. The cliffs around Beachy Head rise up to 600 feet above the sea, and are, apparently, a favourite destination for people who aim to commit suicide.

The team of chaplains, supported by around 100 prayer partners, seek to do all they can to persuade people not to take their own lives. The article reports that, remarkably, the team have saved some 1,500 lives since the ministry began in 2004. Despite the great work of the chaplaincy team, and the lives they have saved, still some 200 people have taken their lives in the Beachy Head area in that time. Statistics suggest that the suicide rate in the UK is on the increase. I find it desperately sad that there are people who come to such a desperate point in their lives that they feel that there is no way out other than to "end it all."

It is perhaps significant that I read the article during Holy Week, when we remember the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. Last Friday I took part, along with 2 or 3 hundred other people, in the Walk of Witness with the cross in Doncaster town centre, to remind people of the significance of the day. We can sometimes forget what it must have been like for Jesus' disciples, and those many others who loved and believed in him. They saw him arrested, beaten, condemned to death, and crucified. It seemed then that all their hopes and expectations had been dashed. The one they believed in was dead! What was there left to live for?

And I think particularly of two of his disciples: Judas, who betrayed him, and Peter, who denied him. Both filled with bitter remorse at what they had done. Judas responded by taking his own life. Peter later met with the risen Lord Jesus, and was graciously forgiven and recommissioned. He subsequently became a great leader in the early Church.

I can look back over my own life and remember times when everything has seemed dark, the outlook has appeared so bleak, and life has been a real struggle. Probably we all face times like that. But the message of the gospel is that after the darkness comes the light of dawn, after despair comes hope, after death comes new life; in all the darkness, the light of the presence of Jesus is never extinguished. He is risen! He is risen indeed!