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Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is |
Dear Friends, Something good
came out of the 2006 General Assembly in
BUT, did these actions make a difference? Yes and
no. The answer may depend on YOU! Read more |
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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.
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Something good came
out of the 2006 General Assembly in
The Health Issues Committee of the 217th General Assembly in
- a statement that
late-term viable babies ought not to be aborted and
- a recommendation
that presbyteries ought to study abortion using scripture, prayer, and
other resources.
But did these actions make a difference? Yes, and no. The answer may
depend on YOU! After
Few presbyteries
take GA recommendation to study abortion seriously. The
2006 General Assembly found value in a process of study used by a task force at
Covenant Presbyterian Church in
PPL was
concerned that presbyteries might overlook this important recommendation and followed up with phone calls to every presbytery. We found only 3 presbyteries that have taken action to create a task force to
study abortion! It is a disappointing number. It is hard to pinpoint
the reasons for such an astonishing level of apathy about an issue that takes
the lives of 4,000 unborn babies a day. Did Presbyteries know about it? Are
Presbytery staff members too overwhelmed with transition in the denomination?
Would more presbyteries respond if pro-life Presbyterians actively volunteer to
help?
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.*