Thou Shalt Not Kill: Can we Ever Justify Taking a Life?
Service of Worship
Eastern Parkway United Methodist
Church
September 12, 2021
Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor
Prelude
Greeting and
Announcements
Mission
Statement: We are a faith community striving to be, to nurture, and to send
forth disciples of Jesus Christ.
Call to Worship
We come here today not because we are
clever
but because God welcomes the slow learners.
We come here not because we are wise,
but because God loves us in spite of our folly.
We come knowing that the greatest persons
will be found
among those who humbly serve like Jesus did,
and that the brightest ideas and the deepest truth will come
from those who see themselves as little children in Christ’s school.
O Lord, open up
our mind and our hearts
and enable our lives to declare your praise.
Hymn 114: Many Gifts, One Spirit
God of change and glory,
God of time and space,
When we fear the future,
Give to us your grace.
In the midst of changing ways
Give us still the grace to praise.
Refrain
Many gifts, one
Spirit,
One love known in many ways.
In our difference is blessing,
From diversity we praise
One Giver, one Lord,
One Spirit, one Word
Known in many ways,
Hallowing our days.
For the Giver, for the gifts,
Praise, praise, praise!
God of many colors,
God of many signs,
You have made us different,
Blessing many kinds.
As the old ways disappear,
Let your love cast out our fear.
Refrain
Freshness of the morning,
Newness of each night,
You are still creating
Endless love and light.
This we see, as shadows part,
Many gifts from one great heart.
Refrain
Litany of Confession:
Awesome God, when we catch sight of
the totality of your claim on our lives;
our believing waivers.
When we hear the absurdity of your
unbreakable covenant with us;
like Sarai and Abram, we laugh.
When we face the foolish wisdom of the
looming cross;
like Peter, we suggest an alternative.
Meet us in our disbelieving, loving
God,
move us gently into the deep waters of faith.
Choir Anthem: How
Can I Keep from Singing arr. Greg Gilpin
Matthew 5: 21-26
Murder
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people
long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject
to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is
angry with a brother or sister[b][c] will be subject to
judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[d] is answerable to the court. And
anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at
the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against
you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First
go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary
who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or
your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over
to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly
I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
A Message
“Thou Shalt Not
Kill: Can We Ever Justify Taking a Life?”
Hello, friends! Oh, what an odd world
that we live in right now. I know how Star Trek this must feel, having to watch
the head on the screen instead of hearing this sermon delivered from a live
pastor right in front of you. I thank you so much for your patience,
flexibility, and faith. We got a phone call on Wednesday night from Daniel’s
principal, letting us know that one of his classmates had covid-19, and because
of that Daniel’s entire class, including his teacher and aides, would have to
quarantine for 2 weeks. Oof. Sean and I, and our other 2 kids, aren’t
technically required to quarantine because we’re all considered “secondary
exposures”. But I love you, I pray for you, I care for you, I worry for you,
and when I knew for a fact that covid-19 had reached my circle, I just couldn’t
risk any of you having any part in that. I appreciate your prayers as I
socially distance for 2 weeks, while homeschooling my 7-year-old…oh what fun
times we’ll have. Seriously…pray for me.
Oddly, as it turns out, it might help
this sermon a bit that you’re watching this over a video rather than seeing me
live, this might give you just enough space for us to be able to talk about
this week’s preacher-stumping topic, which promises to be quite controversial.
My friend Sarah, a member of a congregation I served in the past, responded
when I opened up “Stump the Preacher” suggestions to everyone within my reach
on Facebook. And Sarah got right to the point. She wrote one word: “murder”. I
wrote back: “Can you say a little more about that?” And she clarified what I
assumed she had meant: can we ever justify taking a life?
I wager this would be a controversial sermon
topic on any Sunday, but on this particular Sunday, when we’re standing at the
crossroads of some major, heavy lifting, this topic feels especially pointed,
and yet exactly what we should be thinking about right now. The state of Texas just
passed the strictest abortion law I know of in our country, banning all
abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. It’s very hard to say anything at all
about abortion from the pulpit. This is a topic that even the boldest of
pastors tend to shy away from, and for very good reasons. It’s upsetting. It’s
triggering. It’s bound to cause some arguing between you and your mother-in-law
during the car ride home. And most of us, if we’ve heard anything from the
pulpit about abortion, have heard some abusive, boundary-crossing, demeaning
messages that shame the women in the room. You won’t be hearing that from me. And
abortion is part of our world, part of medical care, and part of life, and
death, and life. And not something uncommon, either: one in three women seek
abortion care before they turn 45. We can handle this, and we should talk about
it. I feel obligated to clarify for y’all who haven’t been pregnant recently
that if you hear “abortions banned after 6 weeks” and you think “that gives a
pregnant person a month and a half to decide what to do” that the earliest most
of us can know we’re pregnant is 4-5 weeks, and lots of people don’t know they’re
pregnant until later on in the first trimester, especially if they weren’t
planning or trying to conceive, so this new law in Texas effectively bans
nearly all abortions. And it does so under the belief that life begins at
conception, to end that life for any reason is murder, and at six weeks your
doctor may be able to detect a fetal heartbeat, making the decision to terminate
a pregnancy all that much more difficult for those who might see even the
blinking of very early cells as a sign of life.
While we’re stressing over this news;
while gun control legislature rolls throughout the nation, hoping to prevent
any more mass shootings; while our troops come home from Afghanistan marking
the end of our country’s longest war, while also giving the Taliban the in they
were waiting for to snuff out, if not the lives, but the livelihoods of Afghan
women and girls; while we grieve the thirteen killed and 18 wounded by suicide
bombers at the Kabul airport; while we witness horrifying images of refugees
desperate to flee their homeland and come to the United States to save their
lives; while we begin a third school year affected by the coronavirus pandemic,
while we mask and disinfect and do anything we can to stop the spread as the
Delta variant sweeps the nation and packs the hospitals, and many still refuse
the masking and vaccination that could stop this virus and prevent countless
deaths; and while we grieve losses of life that have affected ourselves, our
families, and our communities—we also observe the 20th anniversary
of the September 11th Terrorist attacks, the deadliest attack to
ever happen on American soil. A day that, statistically, most of us believe
forever changed life in the United States. We’re thinking about where life
begins, where it ends, and how to protect it more now than ever.
As Christian people, our scriptures
teach us to value life. God names “You shall not murder” seventh in the Ten
Commandments. God pleads with the Hebrews to choose faith in their Creator, and
thereby choose LIFE. Jesus tells us that he came that we may have LIFE and have
it abundantly. He says he is the way, the truth, and the LIFE. The evangelist
John tells us that Jesus is the light, and the light is the LIFE for all
people. Jesus died and rose again to conquer suffering and death, that we may
have everlasting LIFE. There’s little we value more, little we celebrate more
as Christians, than life.
The United Methodist Church teaches us
all to place extraordinary value on life, but also recognizes the complexities
and nuances we face in making decisions about life and death. The UMC teaches
that war is incompatible with the nonviolent teachings of Christ, but also that
war may be the only solution to stop deadly tyranny in the world. Sometimes you
take the lives of those who do evil to save the innocent. The UMC expresses
deep concern for the toll gun violence has taken on our world, and especially
on the lives of children and youth, and supports gun control measures. The UMC very
much wants to stop the long-held stigma that death by suicide has held in the
Church, and seeks to educate all about mental health and save lives. The UMC
supports countless positions that all seek to preserve life, and you can find
all of them explained in great detail in the Book of Resolutions, our
denomination’s manual on sociopolitical beliefs. The UMC supports the troops,
abhors lead paint, believes in paying a living wage, encourages single-payer
healthcare where possible, desires prison reform, urges compassion toward
refugees, fights for safe and affordable housing, and pushes us toward
stewardship of the earth’s resources to stop climate change. But, the UMC is
also gloriously diverse, and while our denomination publishes official stances on
these issues, those of us sitting in the pews are not of one mind on any of
them, as I’m sure you’re very well aware.
We have important questions we have to
ask ourselves when we grapple with these issues of life and death, and the
justification of ending a life. Where does life begin? At conception? Or
implantation, or birth? Can we justify taking a life when we believe the person
will have a horrible time in this world? Should we use abortion as a means of
preventing children from being born surrounded by poverty, addiction, abuse,
homelessness? Should we use abortion to prevent babies from being born with devastating
health problems, disabilities, or deformities? Where does life end? If a person
has a terminal illness that will cause them tremendous suffering and pain
before they pass, can we argue that the life they wanted for themselves is over
and they’d be justified in pursuing euthanasia? If a person is in a persistent vegetative
state and profoundly unlikely to ever come out of it, but their heart could
keep beating for years if they’re put on life support, what’s the compassionate
choice to make? If a person goes into cardiac arrest, and performing CPR,
breaking their ribs, and putting all kinds of stress on their body could resuscitate
them, is that resuscitation worthwhile? Where is the line in taking a life out
of self defense? Can we justify the death penalty? Do our scientific advances
in medicine and biology push us into territory we shouldn’t explore? What
should we believe about genetic engineering, cloning, or stem cell research?
Many a Christian minister have taught
their flocks to have hard, prescribed beliefs on these issues of life and
death, but I’m not that kind of minister. And I don’t believe Jesus was that
kind of teacher. Rather than sit all his disciples down and say “Ok, listen up,
all of you, I don’t want to hear 4 different versions of this floating around
someday”, Jesus addressed the concerns of his disciples by opening up the issue
to look at its most vital pieces. He does this throughout the Sermon on the
Mount, and I used a portion of that to address the topic of this week’s sermon.
And, actually, we’re picking up right from where we left off last week. Jesus’
disciples had been very familiar with the Law of Moses, and believed in “you
shall not murder”, but also “an eye for an eye” in retaliative justice—it was
wrong to take life, but if you needed to seek vengeance for a harm visited upon
you or someone you love, you could only repay what was done to you. If someone
poked out your eye, you couldn’t respond by killing them. You could only
escalate to the point of taking a life if a life had been taken by your
adversary.
Jesus teaches his disciples to think
much more critically about life and death than they had. He counsels them that
murder is wrong, but no less wrong is the anger and hatred that eventually leads
to murder. Jesus teaches us that yes, life is sacred. But simply preserving
life for life’s sake is not good enough. Instead we must see beyond the
ultimate taking of life and look at what lead up to it, and what may come from
it.
So, coming back around to the issue
that may scare us the most: abortion. Life is sacred. Every person is sacred. God
knit you together in your mother’s womb and can count every hair on your head.
The cells and tissue that could someday become a baby living in the outside
world matter. But we have no right to become angry about potential lives being
snuffed out in the womb if we’re not going to address all the issues that lead
a person to consider abortion. A Benedictine nun by the name of Sister Joan Chittister
put it best back in 2004 when she said,
I do not believe that just because you’re
opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many
cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not
a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that
you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not
pro-life. That’s pro-birth.[1]
Pastor Natalie’s personal opinion on
abortion is this: if you want to prevent abortion, support families. Support
women. Get out and vote. Create a world into which no one would fear bringing a
new life. And then trust those who have a uterus to decide what is best for it.
Throughout the world, countries that have the strongest social safety nets have
the lowest abortion rates, and yet largely also make abortion safe and easily available
for the sake of the health of their citizens.
The United Methodist Church teaches
that the beginning and end of life belong to God and God alone. Yet, we humans
live a complicated existence that has us taking life in our own hands. When we
do, we must remember how much responsibility we are holding, responsibility entrusted
to us by our Creator. We need make adult choices with that responsibility,
choices that examine the road that led us to where we are, and then consider
the far-reaching consequences of our actions. And at the end of the day, we
must surrender our feelings and desires of control over all things, including
life and death, to God, knowing that God holds us all in the palm of the Divine
Hand.
Amen.
Hymn 101: From
All That Dwell Below the Skies
1 From all that dwell below the skies,
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung
Through ev'ry land by ev'ry tongue.
2 Eternal are Thy mercies Lord;
Eternal truth attends Thy Word;
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore
Till suns shall rise and set no more.
Offertory: Where
He Leads Me, I Will Follow by Deborah Govenor
Offering,
doxology, and prayer of dedication
Pastoral Prayer
and Lord’s Prayer
We remember, God of history and
remembrance, we remember. We remember when the towers fell and the lives were
lost; we remember the dust and the smoke, the despair, and the grief. We
remember that sense of vulnerability and shock. We remember the numbness that
overwhelmed us as we watched our screens for hours and hours, waiting for an
explanation and understanding that never came. We remember.
We remember, God of hope and presence,
we remember. We remember the heroes, those who rushed to help, who guided the
wounded down innumerable flights of stairs, who rose to overwhelm those who
held death in their hands. We remember the hours and the days of binding wounds
and healing hurts, giving comfort, drying tears. We remember words of support
and compassion from nations far and wide. We remember.
We remember in part because we see the
ripples of that tragic day continue to impact our world twenty years later. We
grieve with allies today as our allies grieved with us twenty years ago. And
together we wonder if there will ever be an end . . . to violence, to war, to
hatred, to death. We remember and we grieve our world’s inability to learn the
things that lead to peace.
We call to you now in our remembrance,
God of justice and of peace. Give us a will to truly pray that your kin-dom may
come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen and Amen.
On this day of solemn remembrance:
May we honor the lives that were lost in this tragic act.
May we give thanks for those who served and saved, rendered aid and assistance.
May we give comfort to those who live with loss.
May we seek justice and peace where it is within our ability,
and rely on you when the ability escapes us.
On this day of solemn remembrance:
May we build what has been torn down.
May we mend what has been broken.
May live your love when hate seems to reign.
May we bear witness to the cause of peace.
Our Father, Mother, Creator God, who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the
Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.
Hymn 451: Be Thou
My Vision
1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my
heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
2 Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true
word;
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.
Born of thy love, thy child may I be,
thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.
3 Be thou my buckler, my sword for the
fight.
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight,
thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tow’r.
Raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
4 Riches I heed not, nor vain empty
praise;
thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
Ruler of heaven, my treasure thou art.
5 "*True Light of heaven, when
vict’ry is won
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Benediction
Our God, our Creator, Redeemer, and
Sustainer, will guard our going out and coming in from this time on and
forevermore. And as all God’s people we say together, Amen.
Postlude
[1] NCR.
“Sr. Joan Chittister’s 2004 quote on ‘pro-life’ versus ‘pro-birth’ goes viral.”
https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/sr-joan-chittisters-2004-quote-pro-life-versus-pro-birth-goes-viral
10 September 2021
Comments
Post a Comment