Dear God, What a Mess!
Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?”
God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin’ you better run”
Well Abe says, “Where you want this killin’ done?”
God says. “Out on Highway 61”
From Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan
The story retold and modified in these lyrics, are of Abraham and his son Isaac, from the Bible in Genesis 22. God tests Abraham by telling him “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Abraham proves himself to God and Isaac is spared. To Abraham, only God had that right to ask to take the life of his child.
Recently Kim and I volunteered to facilitate a small group study based on the book by Jacob Armstrong called God’s Messy Family: Finding Your Place When Life Isn’t Perfect. The book uses Abraham’s family story in Genesis, to help us make sense of our own families when life isn’t perfect.
Life is not perfect as we were reminded of again with the recent decision in New York to pass their Reproductive Health Act.
I am not a supporter of abortion. I am sure many of you are and I respect that.
And though I am a non-supporter, I am realistic enough to know it is not going away, it is part of a world health initiative and it is here to stay however imperfect some of us as individuals may feel that is.
I get that.
It’s just that at my age and my current state of getting old, crotchety, and more conservative; as a father of three girls, grandfather of three grandsons, and a part a family who has lost a child…sometimes I just want to say “phooey” again.
Oh sure, there was a time in my naïve, young, counterculture life when I probably landed on the supporting side of this issue as well. Then again, I was probably on the supporting side of many issues that I can look back on now and say… “What was I thinking?”
Life’s experiences change a lot of things.
Experiences like hearing the heartbeats of my daughters before I even had a chance to hold them or hear them cry.
Or having photos of my grandsons held with magnets on the refrigerator, or downloaded to my cell phone’s photo gallery, and even having shared them in my writing. And these images are not the traditional school photos, these are sonogram images created by ultrasound equipment allowing me to see them before their introduction to the world. I was just as excited about them being my grandsons then, as I am now.
Or grieving a child whose heart not only beat, but was shared with many as a son, a brother, a friend, and a mentor.
So I have to ask, what is it about terminating a life that is worth the joy and celebration exhibited in New York?
One article I read said that Cuomo was exultant sporting a pink tie, and that on Tuesday night, the governor ordered the top of One World Trade Center to be lit up pink.
And why pink? Pink is the revered color associated with Breast Cancer…And why One World Trade Center and not the Planned Parenthood on Bleecker Street? What were you thinking?
And those with him in the photo were just as exultant, big smiles, very pleased with themselves.
I wonder how many of those smiling, exultant faces have the personal experience of losing a child. I wonder if any grieve a lost child terminated by the decision to abort; or lost by miscarriage; or by sickness, accident, or act of war. They are all lost children regardless of their age at time of death.
And how many of those who aborted now regret that decision? How many wonder what their child would be like today? How many of those decisions were driven by the boneheads who fathered those babies, thus protecting their right to continue to reproduce as often as the urge struck. I have heard anecdotal stories of men who have fathered as many as three maybe even four babies, all conveniently aborted. Or maybe it was a parent’s decision to protect their daughter from the “shame” of a teenage pregnancy, or maybe that protection was extended to themselves more.
If a law like this must be made, at least give this imperfect decision the level of soberness it is due.
You can’t have a daughter and be that exultant about the opportunity you just created for her to terminate your grandchild.
Or maybe, as in the Governor’s case, you can.
We just have to hope for a world where more people believe only God has the right to ask for your child back.
And given the opportunity, those little heartbeats be allowed to bring joy to those who want to love them.
