The Danger of
Clergy Who Neglect God’s Calling
By Richard F.
Brondyke
A new and
disturbing trend has emerged in current debates over euthanasia and assisted
suicide. With the recent defeat of
a euthanasia bill in the California legislature, an announcement was
made about the formation of a “counseling” group whose goal is to
provide help
and information for people who want to commit suicide in a less direct manner
that gets around state law.
Rev. John Brooke, a United Church of Christ minister from Cotati, is one
of the organizers of the new End of Life Consultation Service.
Although our
current culture often disturbs us with its laying aside of sacred values, it is
particularly disturbing when Christian clergy are involved in the effort. We would do well to remind ourselves of
similar trends amongst medical professionals, particularly physicians. The old values espoused in the
Hippocratic oaths that forbade any notion of doctor-assisted suicide have been
laid aside by supposedly “enlightened” medical schools as they administer newly
edited versions of that ancient oath.
Just over a year ago my wife and I watched with pride but also grave
concern, as Johns Hopkins, one of the foremost medical schools in the country,
administered such a watered-down oath to our daughter as she began her medical
career. Be forewarned: Doctors of
today may have different concerns than doctors had 50 years ago; no longer do
oaths taken in many secular universities contain prohibitions against doctors
participating in either abortion or doctor-assisted
suicide.
And now we are
discovering that there are some clergy (we hope not many!) who apparently are changing their understanding of what it means to be in
ministry. The sacred vows we took
at ordination surely invite us, even demand, that the focus of our ministry to
parishioners is to bring them into a relationship with God and to help them grow
through every stage in life to be obedient disciples of Jesus Christ. Traditional ministry has included
sitting beside servants of the Lord as they have struggled through the end of
life, consoling family as their loved ones “walk through the valley of the
shadow of death”, and pointing both patients and loved ones to the Lord who
never leaves us or forsakes us.
Now we discover
some clergy abandoning those traditional roles (weren’t they Biblical roles??)
and replacing them with ones in which clergy advise people how to kill
themselves without getting in trouble with the law. Surely such an approach is to abandon
birthrights for a mess of pottage, and to be in violation of sacred vows of
ordination. The notion that that
such “clergy” have abandoned being doctors of “theology” – (theology is a “word”
about “God”) – in favor of being doctors of death probably never crossed their
minds. The Bible’s warning that as
pastors we will be judged with more severity (James
3:1) has apparently been neglected in favor of doing what is “chic”
in the contemporary culture.
As pastors, we
need to be sure that our ethics are grounded in God’s Word that calls us to
value life because the human being is created in the image of God (Genesis
1:27). We are agents of the new creation (2 Corinthians
5:17, 18), not agents of
destruction of the human body (note the warning of Genesis
9:6, let alone the
prohibitions of the sixth commandment!).
To help others make difficult decisions at the end of life is no doubt
our responsibility, but to abandon Biblical decision-making in face of the
pressures of our age shows at the least sloppy ethical theology, at worst a
blatant disregard of the Word of God.
As pastors, we
are called to serve the flock
(1 Peter
5:2), to shepherd
the flock (1 Peter
5:2,
Acts
20:28), to watch over
the flock
(Act
20:28), not to find
ways to disregard God’s truth in the midst of suffering and pain. Paul urges us not to be “ashamed
to testify about our Lord” (2 Timothy
1:8), but to “keep
a pattern of sound teaching (2 timothy
1:13), to “correctly
handle the word of truth” (2 Timothy
2:15), and to
“preach the Word (2 Tim.
4:2). As ministers
of Word and sacrament we must be sure that our ministry is grounded in the truth
of God which we are bold to declare, not in the whims and latest fads of our
culture. Let us be very careful
that we do not find ourselves encouraging the wolves who would savage the
flock (Acts
20:29)
by our
disregard of the very truth we are called to defend.
Related
Articles:
California Group Will Do Assisted
Suicide Counseling After Bill Failed,
by
Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
California Medical Association Rejects
Assisted Suicide Neutrality,
LifeNews.com,
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with
greater strictness.*
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
he created him; male and female he created them.*
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who
through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation.*
“Whoever
sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.”*
Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising
oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for
shameful gain, but eagerly.*
Acts
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock,
in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power
of God.*
2 Timothy 1:13
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard
from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.*
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.*
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;
reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.*
I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in
among you, not sparing the flock.*
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