Since
96 UM bishop's signed the letter against the war in Iraq as being immoral,
I thought it would be interesting to read what that same letter would look
like if the words about "WAR" were changed to "ABORTION".
I think this would be a Christlike response to lead the church towards
embracing the sanctity of life.
"A call to repentance and
peace with justice"
As followers of Jesus Christ, who named peacemakers as blessed children
of God, we call upon The United Methodist Church to join us in
repentance and renewed commitment to Christ’s reign of compassion,
justice, reconciliation, and peace.
As elected and consecrated bishops of the church, we repent of our
complicity in what we believe to be the unjust and immoral
culture of abortion in America.
In the face of the United States
Supreme Court's rush toward a
woman's right to privacy based on misleading information, too
many of us were silent. We confess our preoccupation with institutional
enhancement and limited agendas while American
unborn children are
aborted, while thousands of
American mother's needlessly
suffer, while poverty increases and preventable diseases go untreated.
Although we value the sacrifices of the
doctors who serve in the
women's health arena, we confess
our betrayal of the scriptural and prophetic authority to warn the
nations that life lies not in
right to privacy issues, but in
enabling the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized to flourish as
beloved daughters and sons of God. We confess our failure to make
disciples of Jesus Christ and to be a people who welcome and love all
those for whom Christ died.
Aware that we are to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, we
personally and as bishops commit ourselves to:
▪ Pray daily for the end of all
abortion in general and the
killing of the unwanted unborn specifically; for those who suffer
as the result of abortion,
including the mothers and their
families; the American people in their struggle to find a
culture of life; and for the
leaders of the United States that they will turn to truth, humility, and
policies of peace through justice.
▪ Reclaim the prophetic authority that calls nations, individuals, and
communities to live faithfully in the light of God’s new creation where
all people know their identity
as beloved children of God; where justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream; and where barriers are
removed and all creation is
healed, reconciled, and renewed.
▪ Commit ourselves to peacemaking as an integral component of our own
Christian discipleship, which means advocating and actively working for
the things that make for peace: personal, institutional, and
governmental priorities that protect the poor and most vulnerable,
especially the unborn innocents;
modeling an end to prejudice toward people of other faiths and cultures;
confronting differences and conflicts with grace, humility, dialogue,
and respect without being so cautious in confronting evil that we lose
our moral authority.
We call upon all United Methodists to join in the pursuit of peace
through justice as revealed in Holy Scripture and incarnate in Jesus
Christ.
▪ Let us move beyond caution rooted in self-protection and recover moral
authority anchored in commitment to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
▪ Let us object with boldness when governing powers offer solutions that
conflict with the Gospel message of self-emptying love.
▪ Let us with compassion share the pain of God’s children who suffer
from the devastation of abortion
and those who live in spiritual
poverty resulting from misplaced priorities and misguided public
policies.
▪ Let us work toward unity in a world of diversity, that
all peoples will come to know
that we belong to one another, and that “in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself . . . and entrusting the message of
reconciliation to us” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Submitted by
MPickel, OSL on the
UCMPage.org
Bulletin Board.
Great Work! --Editor
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