Thursday, June 9, 2011

Aborted love

Admittedly, it was late in the day, late in the what had been a hot, dry, business-filled instead of spiritual-filled conference. We had been in our seats at our tables, with a sheen of sweat on our foreheads, for what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights when we considered the petitions. Ironically, I thought these two petitions were cut and dried. I didn't think the voting would be close. I was right. The voting wasn't close. The petitions were cutting, and they were as piercing as the shining tip of a double-edged sword.

Both the petitions sought to eliminate endorsement of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights (www.rcrc.org), which the petitions and the petitioners say misrepresent the UMC. "The RCRC, as a pro-choice organization, clearly supports abortions for the state function of birth control."

Petiton 1 resolved that the General Board of Church and Society of the UMC will "withdraw immediately its endorsement and approval of (the RCRC) and any other organization or group that espouses abortion as a response to regency as proscribed by the BOD 161J. That was brought to the body by Ross Genger on behalf of Athens UMC, Shreveport District.

Petition 2, brought to the body by Connie Wasson on behalf of Benton UMC, sought to present a petition to the 2012 General Conference that the partnership between the General Board of Church and Society and the RCRC be severed.

Both petitions were presented on yellow paper, an ironic nod to the color of fear. They were, however presented, about one of the most fearful of topics -- abortion.

I thought they would both pass. I was wrong. Badly wrong.

According to the petitioners, RCRC does not oppose late-term abortion, advocates for abortion for any reason, has mounted a campaign against all who do not share their views and has increasingly since its founding in 1973 moved away from its original purpose and now advocates positions inconsistent with the Social Principles of the UMC.

My wife, Mary, and I voted and sat awaiting the results so we could move a minute or two closer to being out of Centenary's Gold Dome, a minute or two closer to I-10, I-12 and home.

When tallied, the RCRC and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries were still in business together. Wait. What? What just happened. Surely, uh, come on. Surely we didn't just vote these petitions down. Right? What. Wait.

I was as stunned as if I had taken a baseball off the front of my forehead. That so many in the room were open and honestly in favor of, at the least, abortions in case of incest or other very, very difficult questions. How could this be, I silently asked myself?

Mary? She wasn't so silent, as she packed her things and made ready to go. She had waited for the yellow brick road and now that it was a 'fait accompli.' She said, at the least loud enough for neighbors to hear, "I'm sick, just sick to my stomach." A degree of shock invaded her little circle of life. Mary wanted to know how professing Christians, who favored life in all its meanings and meandering paths, could be in favor of ending an infant's life. "Does that make any sense?" she asked as she hammered things into her bag like a person making time. A vein on the side of her throat bounced with the words she spoke like a teenager at a Justin Beiber concert.

Look, I can't speak for women's bodily function rights. I don't think I'm trying to. What I can speak for is the civil rights of an unborn child who is fighting to enter a big, ol' bad world that doesn't particulary want him, primarily because I was once one of those. I was born prematurely, at the beginning of the seventh month, and given up for adoption by a teen-aged unwed mother who was approaching donating a child like he was a bag of canned goods. That action changed my life, shaded my life since, well, since I would never know this young woman, never know who was my father, never know what life in that family might have been.

That action defined my life, at least until I accepted Jesus. That action caused a downward spiral of wanting to fit in, of desparately wanting to be a part of something, of wanting to be accepted and loved by those persons who one would think would automatically accept and love.

I grasp that there are varying opinions on abortion. I grasp that one can disagree with conviction. I acknowledge there is an emotional tie to this many of us can't seem to get past. What I don't get, however, is the idea that Jesus would say send the little children to him unless they are inconvenient toward the birthing process. Don't see that at all. Don't get it.

How Christians could argue FOR this is beyond me. It truly is. If that makes me backward or foolish, so be it.

I try my best to get along with most folks, with the possible exception of those drivers in the right lane. But on this issue, above and beyond any other, I must make my stand. I speak for the unborn child. I speak for the soon to be born child. I speak for those who think they know the issue far better than do I. I speak for those who have done nothing to anyone else but who would be 'killed' under these sections of the discipline.

Lord, I pray for those children whom we would discard. I pray for the mothers of those who seek to be heard but are being snuffed out. I pray for those who would signal we've reached the crest of the hill and started back down in a state of defeat. I pray for those who know Jesus, but don't want to know him more. I pray for the little children.

Let them be heard, Lord. Let them be heard.

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