A Word from Pastor Lisa: Living in the Grey
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in [God’s] image, in the image of
God, [God] created them; male and female [God] created them.
– Genesis 1:26-27 (NRSV)
Content Warning: This post talks about abortion and pregnancy loss.
We often see the world in black and white when it comes to the church, politics, and our personal lives. You’re right or wrong. You’re red or blue. You’re in or out. Yet most situations in life are much more complex. I want to invite you to take a deep breath. Spend a few minutes of silence with God. Prepare yourself to live in the uncertainty of the grey areas.
When the Supreme Court leaked the draft opinion that allegedly overturns Roe v. Wade, Christians flocked to social media with their varied responses. Social media hysteria rarely changes people or policy, so I’m wondering how we might take a more nuanced look at abortion that is willing to live in the grey. I’m inviting us (myself included) to put our personal views aside for a moment to dive into Scripture, our United Methodist Social Principles, and our lived ethical dilemmas.
What does the Bible say about abortion?
Nothing. The concept of a medically safe abortion wasn’t a reality for ancient people. Many of the passages that have been used to support a “pro-life” stance (e.g. Psalm 139, Deuteronomy 30:19) are generally taken out of context or manipulated. The Bible does, however, have a lot to say about our care for women and children. In Biblical times, women and children were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. They lacked power, wealth, and influence. The Gospels portray Jesus as a feminist who cared for women and children, deeming them worthy of respect. While Jesus concerned himself with women and children who were powerless, ethicist Stanley Hauerwas and pastor Terry Hamilton say the irony of today’s abortion debate is that it often frames women and children as enemies of one another.
The Bible also has a lot to say about our bodies and how we live in them. In Genesis 1, we’re reminded that we are created in the image of God. That means that we have aspects of God manifest in us. We have a conscience. We can grow spiritually and ethically. We can be co-creators with God, or we can choose to deny or repress our likeness to God. If we choose to love God, we must also love other humans and their bodies, as each person is an expression of God.
As followers of Jesus, we believe our bodies are not our own, according to 1 Corinthians 12. When we are baptized, we become members of the body of Christ and members of one another. As members of the Body of Christ, we don’t believe we have the right to do whatever we want with our bodies. We can tell one another what it is that we should and should not do with our bodies. We should not commit adultery. We should not rape or kill another person. We should take Sabbath rest. Our bodies are no longer are own. They aren’t private.
One challenge in American life today is that we believe everything is “private” – how much we earn, what choices we make, what we do with our bodies, say Hamilton and Hauerwas. This is closely tied to our debate on abortion. Some of us think abortion is a private matter; others of us want to debate abortion in the political arena separate from the bodies it affects. As Christians, we try to reflect on abortion with the language we’ve been given by our culture – right to my body, right to life, pro-choice, pro-life, etc. But the debate between pro-life and pro-choice is a false dichotomy. We’ve been told that we must be one or the other, but abortion is much more complicated. What would happen if as Christians, we lived in the grey?
What does The United Methodist Church say about abortion?
Many of us probably don’t know the United Methodist Church’s stance on abortion, so
I’d like to share it with you from our Social Principles:
The beginning of life and the ending of life are the God-given boundaries of human
existence. While individuals have always had some degree of control over when they
would die, they now have the awesome power to determine when and even whether
new individuals will be born. Our belief in the sanctity of unborn human life makes us
reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the
life and well-being of the mother and the unborn child. We recognize tragic conflicts of
life with life that may justify abortion, and in such cases we support the legal option of
abortion under proper medical procedures by certified medical providers.
We go on to oppose late-term abortion (except when life is in danger), and abortion as a means of birth control or eugenics. Most importantly, we talk about pastoral care for women who have unintended pregnancies or who have received abortions. If you or someone you love has been affected by abortion, I hope you sense the unending grace and forgiveness of Jesus today. You are made in God’s image and are beloved, no matter what has happened to you.
Living into the grey
Not only do we need to care for those who’ve experienced abortion, we as Christians also need to reframe our language and our conversation. One step is to make abortion the responsibility of all of us. Traditionally Christians have put all of the burden for abortion upon the woman, making her ultimately responsible for herself and for any child she might carry. Hauerwas and Hamilton say we have to start as a church by condemning male promiscuity. We will never have a voice on abortion until we hold men accountable and deal with the reckless power and injustice of men being promiscuous. Abortion isn’t just about women; it’s about men, too.
Another step is for the church to reframe the debate about whether abortion is right or wrong. Instead, Hamilton and Hauerwas say we should ask why we call it abortion, because we believe it is a morally serious matter. When we use that word, as opposed to “termination of pregnancy,” we are reminded how Christians are to live life – as a baptizing people eager to welcome new life into our communities, for all are created in God’s image. That said, we should be cautious when we claim that “all life is sacred.” Christians have long believed that our faith is something worth dying for. Early Christians took their children with them to martyrdom rather than having them be raised pagan. We don’t believe human life is a good in and of itself, but rather we see life as a gift from God.
Next, we should abandon the debate about when life begins. As Christians, we don’t ask that question because we are the type of people who hope life has started, new life that will transform our community. We don’t say this because we are sentimental about children. We don’t nurture children because they’re our hope for the future. Our hope is in God, who makes it possible to do a crazy thing like raising
children. In a world of injustice and suffering that very well may kill our children, having children is an act of faith and hope. It’s a testimony to our belief that life is the gift of a gracious God. We live in profound awe of each other’s existence because we see the image of God in each person.
We also need to better understand why women make the agonizing decision to terminate a pregnancy, says Hamilton. As a pastor, the women I’ve walked alongside who’ve had abortions have typically done so for two reasons – they can’t handle the financial and physical burdens of a child, or they fear a child will destroy relationships that are important to them. In the situations shared with me, the woman had an abortion, not because she was exercising free choice, but because she felt she had no choice. The responsibility of caring for the child and her relationships rested solely on her.
Finally, this is where the Church has a critical role – reframing abortion as being about responsibility rather than rights. The pro-choice and pro-life debate pits the rights of a mother to choose against the rights of a fetus to live. The Christian response focuses on the responsibility of the whole Christian community to care for the least of these. Every time we baptize people, as we will do again this Sunday, we promise to surround them with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God and their faithful service to others as a disciple of Christ. We make this promise because no adult or child belongs to themselves. Everyone is a child of God, created in God’s image. Every person, especially a young child, is the church’s child to care for. In the church, every adult, whether single or married, is called to be a parent. Biology doesn’t make us parents; baptism does. Our baptismal responsibility is to offer Christian hospitality, always ready to receive new life.
Here are some other ways we do it:
We encourage ministries that offer age-appropriate sex education.
We advocate and distribute free contraception (a church I knew in Uganda
distributed condoms as a reverse-offering).We support crisis pregnancy centers that offer all options for unintended
pregnancies.We facilitate the option of adoption.
We create policies for paid maternity leave, free child care, and health care for all.
We encourage initiatives that enhance quality of life for women and children
around the world.
We become responsible for new life as we’re willing to live in all the grey complexities of it.