Surviving Life's Crises
No one can escape the storms of life. Our goodness or our faith
cannot insulate us from the common experiences of life. Tragic
events come into our lives regardless of who we are. And they
sometimes strike so suddenly. Arthur John Gossip, the renowned
Scottish minister of another generation, preached his famous sermon,
"When Life Tumbles in, What Then?" the Sunday after the sudden
death of his wife. That is always the question, "What Then?" How
do we survive the crisis?

My first suggestion is that we survive by affirming who we are in
the midst of the storm. Paul Tillich, the theologian, in his book
"The Courage to Be" set forth the view that the "ultimate courage is
to affirm our being against all the threats of nonbeing." That
sounds terribly academic. The reality, however, is what we face
every day. The forces of non-being confront us saying, "You are
nobody-- you don't have a right to exist." To affirm who you are
as a child of God is the greatest power we have to resist such
threats.

-- From the sermon "Surviving the Storms of Life"
by The Rev. Dr. Brooks Ramsey

Read the sermon in its entirety.