Letter to a Man in the Fire

A medical student dying of cancer writes to a novelist who himself had stared down the specter of cancer asking two questions: Is there a God and does he care? The writer's response parallels Peter's concern when he comforts Christians in the crucible of suffering.

[INTERACTIVE IDEA: To animate this sermon, you need two readers who will play the role of Jim, the suffering medical student, and Reynolds Price, the author, who writes Jim a letter. Have Jim seated at a small desk or hospital tray table on one side of the platform. He is dressed in hospital garb. Perhaps an IV bottle is hanging nearby, or he is using oxygen. Jim is equipped with a wireless mike and appears to be writing a letter and reading as he writes. Reynolds Price is dressed professorially and also seated at a desk penning a reply to Jim reading as he writes. Look for the cues in this sermon for this action to take place.]

The gunman stood in the school library of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and pulled a sawed-off shotgun from behind his ankle-length black trench coat. Aiming at one of the students who had hit the floor at the sound of gunshots, he said to her: "Do you believe in God?"

"Yes, I do," Cassie said. He pulled the trigger.

Cassie Bernall's parents ...