The Kingdom of. God

 I have heard all of my life that abortion was sinful. I remember in the early 90's our General Synod of the United Church of Christ passed a resolution affirming a woman's right to choose. I was confused, why would our church promote sin. I talked to the senior pastor of the First Congregational in Fargo where I was a student pastor. He told me that in the UCC, we have a right to choose our sins. That really didn't help me at all.  I wasn't going to leave that church or the UCC, because I believed we didn't have to agree on everything. However, I struggled and struggle with how best to deal with abortion as a Christian and a pastor. What I didn't know at the time was that the word abortion does not show up in the Bible even once. As rabbi's have been posting and sharing, there is nothing in the Jewish law against abortion, so we will find nothing in the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scripture against it. They believe that life begins when a person draws its first breath. There is no specific quote by Jesus or the Apostle Paul, or anywhere in the New Testament or Christian scriptures that have the word abortion in it, much less condemning it. On Rachel Maddow, she got something wrong, she said that the Roman Catholic Church has always condemned abortion. It was Pope Pius the 19th in 1869 who first condemned abortion and said any woman who has one can be excommunicated from the church. This is the top of the list if you are an evangelical that abortion is destroying America, however:

President of South Baptist Convention, W. A Criswell in 1974 was pleased with Roe vs. Wade. "I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person," he said, " and it has always, therefore, seemed to me what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed."

So, abortion wasn't always the sin that it's been made out to be in our Bible, in Christian history, and even amongst the evangelicals. And let us remember, abortion is a medical procedure. It is not good or bad in and of itself. Not to say I agree that any woman for any reason can have one, but it is a medical procedure which a pregnant woman, her family, doctor, and a spiritual adviser if they want should have the freedom to decide.

To get into why this is such a hot button issue is far too much for our service this morning suffice it to say that in the 1980's some evangelicals and conservatives thought this issue would be a great issue on which to build a movement and take over the Republican Party and we are now seeing the fruits of their efforts. 

Let's go to Paul's letter to the Galatians where he talks about freedom and slavery. He is not being literal in the sense of being a free person or a slave. He is talking about an old and new covenant. In Paul's view the Old Covenant through Moses and the law created an enslavement in this example to a set of rules which are impossible to follow which, in turn, then leads us to burdens we cannot bear. In Christ, we are freed from those burdens and set free to live in Christ. So why would the early Christians, who were freed want to go back to the burdens which they cannot live under. In some ways, it is the same for abortion and our country. We know that there were abortions happening before 1972, some, who were rich enough, could fly to another country or secure the services of someone who had expertise. Many, who weren't rich enough, would try to self-abort or find those back alley places which endangered the life of the woman. The Supreme Court decision on Friday is wrong in that it lays burdens upon women living is a supposed 'free' country and imposes one groups values and ideology on everyone. 

When I put together this bulletin, I was going to talk about church and the kingdom in reference to our Summer meeting which will follow our worship service. I admit I was struggling a little bit with the gospel lesson because it is harsh. However, this first part of the story of the disciples wanting to reign down brimstone who refused Jesus is appropriate in our country today. They had the power to destroy because those people didn't agree with them or didn't honor Jesus in the way the disciples believed Jesus should be honored. They were eager to do so, but Jesus rebuked them. Rebuked! Just as Jesus rebuked the Legion of demons last Sunday. There is no wiggle room in this statement that gives the disciples and us to impose violence on others who don't agree with our version of being a Christian. Jesus, in the gospel of Luke and all gospels, tells us to love our enemies, bless them and help them. Period!

The second part also seems outlandish in that Jesus denies someone because they want to first go and bury their faith who had died. I would interpret this as more of a parable than literal encounters. It does point that following Jesus is a commitment. It is not a club or something you can do when you have the time or when you feel like it. Something great is asked of us that pulls us away from, out of our ordinary lives. In this church, to live in the kingdom of God, we have been a Peace and Justice Church for many a decade and an Open and Affirming Church for over 5 years. These commitments have asked us to go the extra mile with our time and resource, with our hearts and minds, beyond just giving thoughts and prayers. This church has answered the call in many ways I have every confidence it will again, "For such a time as this.."

I do not doubt that many of you have written or will contact our elected officials about this disaster of a ruling from our Supreme Court and when this community organizes a Pro-Choice rally, we will be there. We have long put our hand to work for justice and the least of these in this church, and we will continue to do so, until God's kingdom comes, God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.