If you've seen any headlines recently you might have seen that the UNC student body president, Eve Carson, was killed yesterday morning. They id'd the body and released the news this morning. It swept through the campus like wildfire, as students start to trickle out for spring break.
A few of my InterVarsity students knew Eve. Mostly the entire campus is just in shock. We canceled our normal Thursday night meeting and joined in with the campus candlelight vigil. That's where Jesus would have been.
It was good but hard to be there tonight with hundreds, maybe thousands of students. It is good and right for us to mourn together. It is necessary to grieve, essential to mark the passing of a major student leader on campus who was very popular and very well loved. Students told a few stories, the administration invited students to care for one another, to seek help if they need it. These are all critical parts of the process, important things for students to hear.
But on the other hand, there's so very little hope. The vigil had the forms of Christian worship but none of the power. Instead of hymns there was the Carolina alma matter and Carolina on My Mind. Instead of a homily about the hope of redemption and heaven in the midst of suffering and sadness there was only a call to give one another a giant group hug and to live out 'the Carolina way.'
Here's the deal: a 22-year-old student was shot to death a couple days ago. That's completely messed up. The students need something more than James Taylor and the alma matter and some candles to get us through. Unfortunately, secular campus culture doesn't have anything else to offer.
Every now and then I start to become entranced by the siren song of secular pluralism. Maybe having the dominant operating system of our culture be a vapid, non-committal, vague acceptance of anything and everything is a good thing for a crazy-diverse place like the United States. But then I see how completely impotent secular pluralism is in dealing with any of the things that really matter--like calling people to make an ethical decision that would require sacrifice...or helping people actually deal with the death of a peer--and I wake up and come back to my senses.
Please pray for the students. Pray for a couple of the administrators that I respect for their love for the students: Dean Blackburn and Winston Crisp; these guys are working overtime right now. Pray for the family and friends.
And pray that the hundreds of students that were there tonight might hear the good news of redemption and the power of God to overcome death somewhere in the next week as they continue to process this event. There is more to help these students deal with the painful reality of death than was given them tonight.
2 comments:
This is so terribly sad, Alex. I clicked over and read the news report as I'm not a big news watcher. (I don't know that we would have gotten that story here anyway.)
I've re-read this paragraph you wrote over a couple of times. "Here's the deal: a 22-year-old student was shot to death a couple days ago. That's completely messed up. The students need something more than James Taylor and the alma matter and some candles to get us through. Unfortunately, secular campus culture doesn't have anything else to offer." and I just keep thinking ... you and your IV students are on offer ! You are right there with the student body ... at the vigil. Lighting candles. Singing "secular" songs. Participating in the group hug ! Being there on campus, building relationships ! You are bringing hope to UNC ! The time will come for you to share the reason for your hope but for now it seems like you are doing what St. Francis of Assisi meant in this quote : "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." I hope you don't feel overwhelmed by the hopelessness you see around you. Remember what you've said so many times on this blog ... HOPE WINS !
I'll be praying.
~Bon
Good analysis. I am disbelieving/saddened that the "Carolina Way" was all Moeser had to offer. I suppose, in a way, that the work hard/play hard/good community Carolina motto can be traced back to Ecclesiastes. But not quite enough, as you sensed.
Are they really content to accept it, nonetheless? Is that an acceptable answer? Whether the answer is yes, no, or something in the middle, it should tell us much and make our job of delivering the gospel easier (and possibly harder).
Ah, there is just too much to be said right now. Time will bring it all out.
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