Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C)
“This is where the end of cancer begins. When together we become a force unmistakable; A movement undeniable; A light that cannot dim. When we take our wild impossible dreams and make them possible; make them true. When together we rise as one. When we stand up. When we Stand Up To Cancer.” – SU2C Manifesto
Last Friday night, while waiting to grab some pizza, I flipped on our television to the three different channels that we get through our rabbit ears. It so happens that all three of those major networks were airing the same program: Stand Up 2 Cancer, a fundraising event organized by CBS anchor, Katie Couric. The show was an enormous production fixed with all the trimmings of its own logo, emotionally gripping videos, and hundreds of celebrities.
Typically when I watch shows like this, my reaction is almost always
a cynical retort. I focus heavily on the melodramatic production of
the show or the half-witted mechanisms that they use to coerce donors
into giving their money. Most often, I zero in on the humanistic ploys
to make everything nice and good, because we as Americans are far too
afraid of death.
I must admit that my initial reaction to the show initially was
hard-hearted, until it melted with the segment called “Survivors,” a
brief documentary that interviewed different cancer survivors (and
those affected) and their reaction to the dreadful disease. I no
longer looked at these celebrities and non-celebrities alike that were
focusing too heavily on mans efforts to combat disease with little to
no reference to the sovereignty of God. I no longer viewed this group
of people with pessimism for trying to make emotional appeals for
money. I no longer scrutinized the show for its theology. I
observed a group of people who understand the aching for a cure that we
all have. They (or family members close to them) are made sick by a
disease that mutates our good and healthy cells into depraved cells
that kill our bodies – they are fighting for the cure of a disease that
is an exact physical representation for the sin that corrupts the good
created in this world.
As Christians, how can we be appropriately concerned with the
doctrines behind these actions while gaining more concern with the
physical atonement of our fallen bodies (and souls)? Our non-christian
brethren oftentimes have a larger heart for the sick, the hurting, or
the dying than we do. How can we be more understanding of pain and
suffering in this world, and how can we learn hate sin and brokenness
that brings cancer (or any other disease) to anyone? We ought be the
city on a hill that proclaims the good news of Christ, but how do we
also learn to proclaim the good news of his restitution of all things
that have gone wrong (physical as well as spiritual)? He will make all
things right (even disease)!
Cancer is an all too real disease for so many Americans, and All
Saints in particular. I unfortunately do not know too much about the
disease, but at the very least, Stand Up 2 Cancer convicted me of my
hardness of heart toward “Non-Christian fundraisers.” It taught me that
we should be the ones leading the fight against cancer. But how do we
go about changing our culture toward us piloting the blitzkrieg against
the sin that so easily entangles and the curse that the Kingdom of God
promises to defeat? As Christians, we should have been the first to
stand up, but because we weren’t, how do we go about “standing up” from
here?