From the Rector
EDITOR’S NOTE: Given the recent Arizona Supreme Court decision and pending legislation, the Bell & Tower is re-publishing a piece on the question of abortion and faith that Fr Robert wrote on July 1, 2022. It includes language from the most recent Episcopal Church official statement on this deeply challenging question.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Last week I penned a note shortly before leaving the Holy Land. In it I mentioned that it was written before my departure and that I hoped nothing would happen between leaving Tel Aviv and the note’s publication on Friday that would have it appear “out of touch.”
Of course, I then landed at home and learned that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade. So despite my hopes, something did indeed happen.
In the time between the leak of the draft decision and the ruling being officially rendered, there has been much written about the issue of abortion. I’ve had email, social media, and in-person chats about it. The Vestry discussed it, too, as we debated appropriate next steps.
People have asked what my opinion is or what the position of Saint Philip’s is and what the Episcopal Church’s position is. I suppose I find myself lamenting that this is where our national discourse is now. I’ve seen more than one headline about what this means for the elections in 2022 or 2024.
That’s what it seems to be. An issue. A position. A topic. An agenda item. Different sides are taken and people dig in because that’s what sides do.
This is different, though.
I am a believer in a comprehensive ethic of life—whatever enhances our sense of human dignity and the worth of life in all its forms and stages is the right next step. The side we take should always be the side of human dignity.
The Episcopal Church’s last official statement on abortion, from 1994, reads, “All human life is sacred from its inception until death. The Church takes seriously its obligation to help form the consciences of its members concerning this sacredness.” It is that sacredness in one another that is increasingly being tossed aside even as we treat the sacredness of life itself as a political football.
This is about more than an issue or a topic. It is about how we recognize the humanity and dignity of women and children alike. Seeing a divine spark in potential new life can’t mean we don’t see it in the mother bearing the child, too. That spark, that sacredness, is where we need to fix our eyes and hearts and souls.
There are so many ways we’re being encouraged to distrust, disregard, or discard that sacredness. We’re encouraged by the anger and rage of the day to believe that those who are pro-life are just out to reinforce an abusive patriarchal theocracy. We’re encouraged by the anger and rage of the day to believe that those who are pro-choice are callous abettors of the deaths of defenseless children.
This is the talk of those who benefit from sides, issues, and agendas. Seeking the divine spark in one another is not about any of these. Rather, it’s about being at the work of our Father—being about the work of love. Seeing God revealed in every creature takes us beyond issues and deeper than agendas. This will mean even committing ourselves to seek that spark in those with whom we disagree.
The same General Convention resolution from 1994 recognized the complexity of the questions raised by abortion. It took the position that national legislation or jurisprudence which took the choice away from women would not solve the underlying social, medical, or other challenges which might lead to such a choice. It took this position even as it regarded “all abortion as having a tragic dimension, calling for the concern and compassion of all the Christian community.”
The resolution remains a nuanced and thoughtful attempt to bridge theological, ethical, and social questions while also respecting the dignity and self-determination of the Church’s members. It was a community wrestling with what it means for its own members to face these questions and dilemmas in their faith lives.
The statement did not look for easy answers or pretend this was a matter for bumper sticker slogans or angry rants. It is measured, reflective, cautious, and gentle.
In the coming days, weeks, months, and years we’re going to be challenged again and again to choose love. We’re going to be tempted repeatedly to throw away the chance to listen for the opportunity to yell. We’re going to be tempted many times to condemn when a moment of quiet is the holier way.
Let us, too, find a way to stand where the Spirit is calling us to stand—even as we strive to be measured, reflective, cautious, and gentle.
Each of us is going to find ourselves called in different ways. Some will find themselves called to push for a change in the laws. Some to march or knock on doors. Some to lament. Some to be thankful. Some to study. Some to learn. Some to connect, or withdraw, or weep, or remember, or grieve.
Each of us will find the Spirit doing something different in our heart and soul right now. Our own divine spark will be stirred. What we will not find the Spirit doing is driving us to easy answers, cheap grace, or vengeful self-righteousness. Our humanity is not an issue or an agenda. Our humanity, and each other’s humanity, is what we must hold fast to in a time of inhumanity and division.
However you are called by the Spirit—let your action be done with a love that outpaces anger, a hope that overtakes despair, and a charity that outshines condemnation. Be bold. Be loving. Be witnesses to the spark, the sacredness, in each other and in every loving and living thing.
To read the Episcopal Church’s latest agreed statement on abortion from the 1994 General Convention click here.
Yours in Christ,
—Fr Robert