Our Statement on the Overturning of Roe v. Wade. by Pastor Robert Green
As I write this, I look out my office window and see a car with one of those signs that reads “Babies on Board”. It belongs to one of our staff women who is a young mother of two. These signs send a signal to other motorists, “Hey, there are valuable lives inside.” This is my exact conviction before and after this week’s monumental ruling. These are precious lives carried inside and not something less. I lift my voice and think of the voices of those who may now be given the opportunity to have a voice.
Below you will find my statement on this week’s Supreme Court ruling.
The church has had a stable testimony for thousands of years that life begins in the womb. In scripture, Job, David, Paul, Jeremiah and John the Baptist were all depicted as people before they were born. (Job 10:1-2, Psalms 139, Jeremiah 1:5, Galatians 1:5) We see Mary visit her cousin and the child her cousin carried leapt for joy in the womb (Luke 1).
We are to be a part of a community of imago dei: the image of God in all people. We do best when we value the dignity of unborn children and the equality of women.
Scripture teaches us that our bodies belong to God and not ourselves. Our thinking should be formed not by popular opinion or convenient thought but what God says and what most leads to our flourishing.
We are fulfilling our role when we lead with humility. Let’s really listen instead of contentiously contributing to the shouting and sound bites.
These discussions are not chiefly positions to debate but people to love. I think of friends who have had abortions. They have faced enormous pressure and pain. I think of friends who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths who have had to hear this week on social media that their children were not actually children. These friendships and stories remind me this is not an “out there” matter, it’s an “in the church” reality.
In Jesus’ day, there were some people who were right about a lot of things but wrong in how they lived. “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden” (Matthew 23:4). How can we lift and ease?
We can listen and love, foster and adopt, donate and support, mentor and babysit, and take discipleship and generosity seriously! I’m not claiming to be a policy wonk. But I am asking us to look with curiosity and consideration for structural means of support like expanded medical care, child care, wages, maternity leave and the like. Government, along with the church and the family is one of three institutions from God.
The world is made better when followers of Jesus bring their faith into the public sphere. Martin Luther King in the Civil rights movement, Susan B. Anthony for women’s rights, and William Wilberforce in ending the British slave trade. God has called us to it. The world needs it.
Let’s guard our hearts from political ideology. Laws, rules, courts, and even nations come and go. Jesus points us to a different kingdom (John 18:36). It is not about possessing power and control but having faith and expressing it in love!
I have friends who think differently. They are still friends.