Gracious and loving God, guide us to seek
your Truth: come whence it may, cost what it will, lead where it might. Amen.
This sermon begins with a disclaimer about what I ask of you, as a listener. I do so because this sermon will address the topic of abortion. As a note, I wrote and planned this sermon before the Supreme Court's decision on Friday. I would have preferred the decision to come out this upcoming week so that this sermon could be heard more reflectively and not reactively with tensions high, but I'll play the hand we've been dealt. For one, I ask that you trust me. I hope that you know that I love you and my only priority is pointing to the love of God. I ask that you would listen, and re-listen if necessary, to this sermon. Then reflect on it. Then examine your reactions. And then, finally, to respond after listening for the Spirit. This sermon will be a bit longer than normal, not that I can cover everything, but this is an important enough conversation to not have an artificial time limit imposed on it.
Abortion
is, indeed, a very controversial and difficult topic – this I know. The topic
is discussed on the op-ed pages of newspapers, around coffee tables, at
marches, and on political commentary shows. In all of those places, the
conversations focus on whataboutisms, caricatures of the other side, and slogans
that are full of sound and fury signifying nothing. There are many churches
that have made abortion a central issue, and, personally, I don’t think that is
a healthy focus for a church to have. It can be part of the message, but not
the message. In many other congregations, abortion is rarely, if ever,
discussed out of fear that it will anger people or bring politics into the
church.
We’ll
take the second concern first because it’s the easiest to address. Jesus, a
Jew, was crucified on a Roman cross. Anyone who wants their faith separate from
their politics will need to find a different Messiah. As to the concern about
talking about hard things in Church. If I had a magic wand and could change the
public reputation of the Church, I would want people to think two things about
the Church: that we love one another and because of that love, we talk about
hard and meaningful things. For me, as a preacher, to ignore the most public
conversation our society has had about ethics in the last 50 years would be
malpractice. To put it simply, if the Church has nothing relevant to say, then
we ought to just close up shop and support another organization that is
promoting reconciliation and discernment.
What
makes abortion such a difficult topic is that so many issues intersect with it.
Abortion is about the vocation of parenthood, the economy and poverty, sexual
ethics, our responsibility for one another, biology and medical ethics, autonomy
and self-determination. If there were more time, I would also get into some of the
history of the debates around abortion in our society because how we have
arrived at this particular historical moment is fascinating and maddening. Part
of the confounding issue is that the debate is the result of racism and the
politicization of religion. In the 1970s, leaders of the Southern Baptist
Convention openly and proudly advocated for the position that is often labeled
as “pro-choice." The story of how we got from there to here is one that I just
don’t have time to get into, but is worth researching. And, because this is
America, of course, it has elements of racism. My point here though is to just acknowledge
how complicated the conversation is because so many issues are at play.
This
is also a difficult topic because, lest we forget it, it is a pastoral one. To
be clear, the Supreme Court will never have an abortion. Congress will never
have one, nor will a congregation. People, individuals, have abortions. We can
talk in the abstract, but we can never forget that this is a deeply personal
issue and is traumatic for all those involved. This is why, understandably, so many feel under attack by the legislative and judicial debates. We know that both biologically
and spiritually, when a pregnancy, planned or unplanned, wanted or unwanted,
miscarried or birthed, occurs, a tremendous event has occurred. This is why
demonizing, literally demonizing, the other side has got to stop. This isn’t
about killing babies or using a “get out of jail free” card. These are serious and personal experiences and
should be treated as such. And in hearing Confessions, I know the weight that
women carry even decades later. The reasons why some have an abortion are as
numerous as the people who chose them, and so we have to resist broad brush
strokes that paint over the very personal nature of this conversation.
I
also want to acknowledge the fact that I’ve been planning, praying, and preparing
for this sermon for about two months. I’ve talked to and read experts on the
topic and I’ve done my best to listen to the Holy Spirit’s guidance on what
needs to be said and what needs to remain unsaid. But you all have taken a
perfectly good Sunday morning, put on nice clothes, and come to church, not at
all expecting a sermon like this. I realize that I’m catching you off guard,
and so if your heart rate is a bit higher than normal, as is mine, let’s just
take a breath and do our best to listen for what the Spirit has to say through
me and despite me.
My
purpose in this sermon is not to tell you what to think, but rather how to
think about such topics. While the focus is abortion, the points that I will
make could be applied to any other conversation about ethics and morality. If
you hear me telling you what to think, please trust me that this is not my
intention, as my goal is simply to frame how we talk about abortion. The other
goal of this sermon is to disrupt the narratives that we’ve been given. To
paraphrase Jesus in today’s Gospel text: “Let the left worry about the left and
the right worry about the right.” If you believe in a political platform more
vigorously than you do the Nicene Creed or the Lord’s Prayer, then this sermon
is going to offend and disrupt you. I am not interested in having this conversation
on the broken foundation that the Supreme Court or Congress uses. I am not
interested in misleading or over-simplified labels like “pro-life” or “pro-choice.”
Instead, my goal is to do as Jesus says when he said, “Follow me.”
In
this, and every, conversation, lenses matter. The words we use and the tone we
take make a lot of difference. As you might know, there are linguists and
political strategists whose job is to come up with words and phrases to
manipulate public perception of issues. As an example, it has been tested that if
“Medicare expansion” had successfully been known as “Medicare extension,” it
would have led to a 15-point swing in public perception on the topic. And in
the realm of politics, that’s a massive difference. It’s true when it comes to
abortion. When we say “pro-choice,” that doesn’t mean someone is “pro-abortion,”
but that is how the other side takes it. Likewise, when someone is “pro-life” it
does not mean that they are “pro-authoritarianism.” Our faith proclaims that
the “Word was made flesh,” so we understand the importance of words and we need
to be very careful about how we use them.
I
am not writing an op-ed, I am not so delusion as to think a Supreme Court
justice is going to hear this sermon, I am not speaking to society. This sermon
is written for followers of Jesus and it probably won’t make much sense outside
of that context. The word that Christians need to have in mind as we consider
abortion is “gift.” The primary lens for considering this, or any other topic,
is that of “gift.” “Gift,” as you might know, is one way to translate the Greek
word we know as “grace.” So, through and through, our frame is the gracious love
of God.
Thinking
of abortion through the lens of gift does several things for us. For one, it
reminds us of the very first gift that we are given. In Genesis 1, we are gifted
with creation in the image of God. The reason why I’m preaching this sermon
today is because of the first sentence in the reading from Galatians: “For freedom
Christ has set us free.” The problem is that, as Americans, we misunderstand
what freedom is. Freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want. Of course,
it would take a whole other sermon to really dive into what Christians mean by “freedom,”
but a short version is that freedom means not being in debt or bondage.
Part
of the image-bearing gift that we are given is the responsibility for using our
freedom properly. That language of “responsibility” is one that Christians need
to have more in our vocabulary. Christians do not believe in “rights” precisely
because we believe in “gifts.” A right implies that, in and of ourselves, we
deserve something. But this is not the case. All that is we have is a gift from
our gracious and loving Creator. Christians do not have a right to commit
adultery, lie, steal, own guns, or have an abortion. We do not have rights,
but we do have responsibilities and this is what it means to be gifted with God’s
image.
Framing
abortion as a choice is so unhelpful because, for many women, they would say
that they have no choice. This is because too many Christians have abandoned
our responsibilities to one another. We are complicit in a broken economic
system, in a subpar public education model, in a racist and classist society,
in a hyper-sexualized culture. It’s easy to put the responsibility solely on a
woman, but any unwanted pregnancy is not “her” problem; it is ours. That’s what
it means to be gifted with God’s image. Abortion may well happen in an individual
body, but it is a reflection of us all.
Secondly,
the language of gift helps us to reframe the discussion about when life begins,
which is a losing conversation. When life begins is a discussion for philosophy
and is rooted in medicine and technology – which change all the time.
Christians do not concern ourselves about when life begins because Christians
are people who always hope that it has. Jesus says that he came that might have
abundance of life. Our lives are not our own, they are gifts from God, which is
why they are so precious. Don’t get sucked into the debate about “when” but rather
remember that as Christians, our anchor is in the hope that God is always up to
new things.
Next,
if we view this discussion through the lens of gift, it means that we must
remain humble. A gift implies that we don’t know it all and do not have all the
answers. Christians remember Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not
judge, so that you may not be judged… Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s
eye, but not do not notice the log in your own?” Scripture actually gives us
the Christian response to abortion: compassion.
When
Jesus encounters a woman who had been caught in adultery and was about to be
punished for it, he does not condemn her, but rather shows her compassion. He
tells those ready to stone her to cast a stone only if they are without sin.
And then Jesus says to her, “Neither do I condemn you” after they have all
walked away. To be clear, abortion is always, always a tragedy – either because
of the situation that led to it or because it represents a further gift of God
that will not come to be. Whether it is a medical abortion or a miscarriage,
fetal loss is always something to lament.
We
live in a fallen world and we are surrounded by sin. Both the Psalms and Romans
remind us that “No one is righteous, not one.” The Christian response to those
who are caught up in brokenness is not judgment, but mercy. The example Jesus gives
us is that of compassion.
Lastly,
the most important aspect of viewing our lives through the lens of gift is that
it makes us stewards, not owners. The one thing about the abortion debate that
makes me the most uncomfortable as a Christian is when people say things like “my
body, my choice.” For Christians, this simply isn’t the case. These are not our
bodies because they are gifts from God. We are stewards of them, but they are
not ours. This also means that no one else should have any dominion or control
over someone else’s body, whether in terms of legislation or slavery.
When
we are Baptized, we are Baptized into the Body of Christ. Our bodies belong to
Christ, not to ourselves. God does grant us the gift of stewardship and use of
our bodies, but our lives are not to do with as we please. This goes back to
the discussion about what freedom is and is not. We are to use our bodies, our
lives, our intellects, our gifts to respond to God’s grace with praise and love.
And
so when we need to make decisions about how to use the gift of our bodies in
this imperfect world, we do so with humility. For Christians, abortion is a decision
to be discerned after much prayer and guidance from our tradition. In a perfect
world, there would be no need for abortion, but we do not live in that world.
Here, we acknowledge that we are not perfect and our decisions will never be
perfect, and so Christians are always ready to confess our sins and rely on the
gracious mercy of God. Through prayer, discernment, and conversation with trusted
religious leaders, we strive to be faithful stewards of the gifts we have been
given. This will lead some to discern that abortion is the least bad option and
others will come to a different determination. But, either way, the lens of gift fundamentally
changes how we approach the conversation and live with the result.
The
other important thing that Christians need to think about in this conversation
is what we should hope and pray for when it comes to political resolutions. Again, when I wrote this sermon, I did not know when the Supreme Court’s decision would be announced – some are celebrating it and others will criticizing it. I won’t tell you how to react. But I
want to raise the question of whether or not Christians ought to look to the
government for salvation. More broadly, is it the role of the Church to lobby for
political action? Obviously, for most of us, it depends on the issue. The danger
for us as Christians is idolatry. When we look to the State to transform
society then we have forgotten our story. Jesus did not live, die, and rise to
make us better people, or to give us a better society. Jesus liberates us from
our sins so that we can live as image-bearers of God.
If
we put too much emphasis on the State and the laws, then we are back under a
burden to be freed from. This is why St. Paul cautions the Galatians, and us,
to “Stand firm and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” To tie our hopes
and morality to the decisions of nine secular judges is to, absolutely, put on
a yoke of slavery because none of them are our Good Shepherd. The narrative that
our culture has given us forces us to put the cart before the horse. We don’t
push for certain laws so that we can have a more just society, rather we strive for
justice so that our laws and society reflect who we strive to be.
The
role of the Church is not to transform society, it is to be the Church – the beloved
community of the Body of Christ in this world. As Christians, we bring the
language of “gift” to the conversation about abortion. We are a people who have
the responsibility to help others realize and receive the gifts that God
intends for them. We are a people who show compassion and mercy to all who are
unable to use their gifts perfectly in an imperfect world. We are a people who realize
that gifts are to be used not however we like, but always in accordance with
the image of our gracious gift-giver. We are a people who follow Jesus in the
way of compassion and love so that even in disagreement, society might see us
and say “look at how they love one another.”
I truly pray that this sermon is helpful and that you hear it as an aid in helping you think about this topic, not telling you what to think. You’ll notice that I’ve not answered the question of whether or not abortion is morally acceptable or not, and I have not said what we should want the Court to decide. Those are the wrong questions. The question for Christians is instead, “How do we more fully and faithfully receive, show gratitude for, and steward the gifts that God has graced us with, and when we fall short of that, how do we rely on the grace of God?”
