Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Leaders within the Diocese of Christ our Hope —
This past week we have been rocked with the news of politicians promoting the most aggressive pro-abortion practices in US history. The New York State Legislature passed laws permitting abortions up to the moment of birth. Not wanting to be outdone, Virginia State Delegate Kathy Tran introduced a bill permitting abortions until the end of the third trimester, i.e., up until the point of delivery. Governor Ralph Northam openly affirmed his full support.
In the online news source Vox, Anna North reports, “anxious to shore up access in anticipation of a challenge to Roe v. Wade, abortion rights supporters in state legislatures are backing bills that would roll back some of the earlier restrictions or introduce new protections for abortion rights. And while the particulars of the controversy in Virginia are unique, versions of it are likely to take place across the country as abortion-rights supporters back legislation in purple and even red states.”
In other words, this is just the beginning.
There’s no need to state the obvious: the culture of hostility toward life, especially the most vulnerable human beings, is the outflow of the satanic hatred for God’s image bearers that was revealed in Genesis 3. What started as a winsome appeal to Adam and Eve to seize something good, desirable, and pleasurable was a mask on a fundamental fist in the face of God. “Not thy will, but mine be done” was declared. Now it has come to unthinkable proposals to actively kill babies as they enter the world through natural birth. The justification for such horror? The defiant assertion that all humans since the Garden have made, the right to “my body – my desire — MY WILL, not thine!”
Each of us has to prayerfully discern what we can do. But to every church and leader of the Diocese, I appeal: Praying against the forces of evil and death must be coupled with preaching and teaching the love and goodness of God in the gift of life. Additionally our churches must make every creative effort we can to provide the alternatives of love and life for the most vulnerable and terrified among us. The rescue effort has always been on, but now the storms have intensified yet again.
Archbishop Foley Beach wrote an excellent pastoral letter concerning this topic this week: I encourage you to share this with your congregation, family, and friends.
http://anglicanchurch.net/?/main/page/1786#.XFXiGY59EIg.email
In the Beloved,
Bishop Steve