The Politics of Neighbor-Love
Engagement with the Proposed
Amendment to the Virginia State Constitution
Dear Redeemer Family,
I am writing to bring an issue to your attention, provide Biblical moral clarity on it, and request your prayer (and potentially) your action.
As you may already know, there is a proposed amendment to the Virginia State Constitution that, amongst other things, enshrines the right to abortion.
You can read the proposed amendment here.
(While my primary concern in this letter is with Amendment Question 1, I also believe that Question 2 warrants opposition as it seeks to enshrine same-sex marriage, which is already legal, as a constitutional right. However, because the right to abortion carries with it the gravity of death, I have chosen to focus exclusively on that topic in this letter. Amendment Question 3 addresses felon voting rights and seems a fairly debatable issue. I’ve chosen not to weigh in on that one.)
Our Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Christopher Warner, has sent a letter to our diocese on this topic, which you can read here. Additionally, he has expanded on this letter in this article - the Sacredness of Life.
REDEEMER’S POLITICAL ETHOS
Now, before I go any further, I’m sure there are some of you who might feel a bit thrown that I am directly addressing a political matter. After all, Redeemer is a parish that intentionally seeks to create space within the congregation for a plurality of political convictions, under and within the moral bounds of Holy Scripture and the ethics of the church. We have been, are, and will remain a parish that is not partisan in any way, nor are we distracted by the constant churn of political outrage that saturates our current cultural moment.
An important point of clarity for all of us to recognize is that, while our parish is not partisan, there has never been such a thing as a church that is not political. The story of scripture contains frequent, if not constant, political engagement as God’s people seek to participate in the missio dei in this world. Our Lord Jesus died in a political confrontation and the Gospel we proclaim bears political implications for every one who goes by the name Christian.
In this, we are using the word politic in it’s broadest and most comprehensive sense. Because we are not only called to love God, but also our neighbor; we are concerned with the wellbeing and health of the polis which we share with our neighbors. Our neighbors are not only adults, but children as well. Our neighbors are not only the children running and biking down our sidewalks, but also those curled inside the wombs of the women in our neighborhoods as well. These are our littlest, weakest, most vulnerable neighbors; and neighbor-love can never be completely shorn from political participation.
Though there is generous elbow-room within the parish for passionate-yet-charitable debate on many political matters that happen to fall into partisan camps, there are other political issues that transcend partisanship and provide opportunities for followers of Jesus to unite around the shared ethics of the Kingdom of God.
Examples of this are:
The preservation, nurture, and care of creation.
The equality of all human races and ethnicities who bear the Imago Dei.
The equality of dignity and value of male and female as co-bearers of the Imago Dei.
The equality and value of both rich and poor in the eyes of God.
Because these Kingdom ethics lead to political implications, there is a long history within the church of political activism where society is faced with a choice on which the Bible provides moral clarity. This particular vote in November, on this particular amendment, offers us a choice on which the Bible provides moral clarity.
A (VERY) BRIEF BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF CHILDREN
Scripture is unequivocally consistent in celebrating the goodness of children, including children in utero. God’s mind, expressed within sacred Scripture, is clear. We, His Church, the Body of Christ in this world, must be of the same mind. It is a great evil to kill a child under any circumstances. No exceptions. There is absolutely no elbow room to be of a different mind on this issue. Abortion is a moral issue because all human beings are made in the image of God, human life is sacred, and abortion ends a human life.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:13-16
If you have the time, you might also consider looking up the following verses. I won’t put the full text in this post in order to keep it reasonably short.
The very same Biblical theology that undergirds our belief that we are to labor for racial healing, mercy for the poor, and justice for the oppressed also leads us to believe that all abortion is evil and that we are to work for justice and life for children.
If you are a member at Redeemer or someone considering membership, it would be good for you to know that we seek to be absolutely clear in our Biblical anthropology (what the Bible teaches about human beings). We want to be clear that, because all human beings bear the dignity of God Himself, racism, abuse of the poor, violence against women, and yes, abortion, are evils that are to be opposed on all fronts.
Let me also be clear that we hold these beliefs based upon an unswerving loyalty to the Bible as the Word of God and not to any particular political party or tribe.
PRAYER & ACTION
Therefore, as followers of Jesus who believe and trust in the authority, truth, and goodness of the Holy Scriptures, I believe that we must:
Pray that this amendment not pass.
Vote against the amendment.
Encourage others to do the same.
CONVICTION & HUMILITY
Now, a word about how we hold our convictions. Two people can believe the same doctrine, and yet hold their convictions with very different attitudes: one prideful, the other humble. We, at Redeemer, seek to embody the latter. This means that, while we hold our Biblical convictions about a comprehensive ethic of human life, we do so acknowledging our own sinful complicity in the injustice and corruption of our society and world. In other words, we do not keep our distance, imagining ourselves standing on some sort of culturally neutral ground, and pridefully condemn the wickedness of others while proclaiming our own righteousness. Rather, we admit and confess that we live out our days embedded and intertwined with this sinful world.
None of us is innocent. No one. Not one.
All of us have, pardon the graphic metaphor, blood on our hands. I know that I am not only guilty for wrong things I have done - for ways I have actively (knowingly or unknowingly) participated in injustice (I suspect the cotton T-shirt on my back as I write this came from a sweatshop in Vietnam… yikes). But I am also guilty for all the good things that I have not done! The help I did not give. The love I did not extend. The refuge I did not provide.
Therefore, my conviction about the Bible teaching a comprehensive ethic of human life must also be held along with my convictions about my own sin and need for the grace and mercy of Jesus. I am not better than a woman who chooses to have an abortion or superior to the doctor who performs the violent procedure.
As the Apostle Paul writes, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15
When you and I truly know the depths of our own brokenness and sin, we will lose any and all feelings of superiority towards others. This will transform the attitude with which we hold our convictions about abortion. This will not weaken our convictions, not at all! If anything, humility should make our convictions all the stronger and more resolute. This is because they will be founded, not upon personal feelings of moral superiority, but upon the Word of God in the Bible and the Word made Flesh in Christ Jesus. This is a far firmer foundation.
Additionally, we must hold our conviction with humility because we are surrounded by people, some within our parish, who have participated in abortions in the past. We share our Lord’s desire that any who have, knowingly or unknowingly, participated in the destruction of human life - would encounter the love of Jesus through the church. We desire for all to repent, receive forgiveness, be healed and made whole by the sanctifying mercy of the Holy Spirit. The good news of the Gospel is for sinners and no one is beyond hope of redemption.
A note: If you are someone who has participated in an abortion in the past, please know that in our Parish you will not be condemned, but rather welcomed, loved, forgiven, and offered the full Grace of our Lord Jesus. Though it may sound like a terrible risk, you are invited to confess this to a priest so that you can hear, with your own ears, the good news of the Gospel and the absolution that is offered and made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus.
COMPASSION & NEIGHBOR-LOVE
As we move forward to greet whatever future the Lord has in store for us, we must be prepared to compassionately care for mothers who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant and do not feel they have the strength to navigate a pregnancy, nor have the desire or the resources to raise a child. This kind of compassionate care may take many forms. It certainly includes, but is not limited to:
Prayer.
Giving financially to and volunteering at crisis pregnancy centers.
Being trained and serving as Foster parents.
Adopting a child.
Supporting couples and families who serve as foster parents or adopt children.
Redeemer Family, thank you for reading this.
I love you dearly.
I hope that our opportunities to shelter, protect, feed, cloth, care-for, and love our neighbor’s children extend far beyond the voting polls.
In the Father’s love,
