“What if I don’t agree with what the bishop tells us to think?” This is not a direct quote, but the general idea of a question I got at a coffee hour Q&A this summer. The questioner was referring to the letter I wrote to the diocese on the Fourth of July reflecting on the actions of David Streever after his encounters with I.C.E. agents. I received quite a few comments and questions about the letter, both positive and negative. “I will never tell you what to think!” was my first response, “but I will tell you what I think. I trust you to discern, to think and pray about your own response to what it means to live a Christian life.”
That question has stayed with me, like a small stone in my shoe, as my mind and heart continue to consider that exchange. It remains with me because one of the things I love most about the Episcopal Church, and a major reason I have remained an Episcopalian, is that no one in our church can tell us what to think. At the same time, our Church values and encourages us to think, but not solely as individuals. Our local church, the clergy, lay leaders, and our liturgy invite us to think together, as a community, and together discern our responses and actions to moral questions and political events. Thinking is part of the fundamental structure of our Church, the three-legged stool of tradition (practice and beliefs received from our forebears), Scripture (Jewish and Christian), and Reason (the discernment of our experiences and knowledge).
So who cares what the Bishop thinks? Certainly, in other Christian traditions, the words of a bishop are/have been treated as required agreement. Remember that one of the few powers the Archbishop of Canterbury has is to call the Anglican/Episcopal bishops together every ten years. Often they write a Word to the Church regarding the issues of the day, but those words are not required to be followed, only to be distributed and considered by the dioceses. In the same way, the bishops of the Episcopal Church meet twice a year and may issue pastoral letters. Or I might send a pastoral letter, as I did on the Fourth of July, and request that it be read or distributed. Those words are meant to be my reflections on an event or issue of the day, to be considered along with scripture, Bible study, and conversation in your community.
The other way we, as a church, make statements of theology and politics is through our General Convention, which meets every three years. We will be sending four clergy people and four lay people to Phoenix, Arizona, in July 2027 for the next General Convention. Their resolutions are debated, edited, and voted on. Even these resolutions don’t tell us what to think, but rather what the mind of the gathered people has agreed on and what that might mean for us and how we might act in response. Our one lobbyist in Washington watches the work of our government and offers petitions and actions corresponding to those resolutions. Still, whether you sign your name to those petitions is left up to you.
The State of New York passed a significant piece of legislation, the Medical Aid in Dying Act (MaiD), which went into effect on August 5 of this year. This law allows a person with a diagnosis of six months or less to live, confirmed by two doctors and a psychologist, witnessed by a non-family member who does not benefit from that person’s death, to obtain a prescription, which must be self-administered and stops the heart immediately. No one can be forced to make this choice, and no doctor is obliged to participate in MaiD. I am sure we all have questions and concerns about this law, and I believe your priest and your community are an important place to discuss and discern our own feelings and beliefs about this option.
On September 1, we will be sponsoring a panel discussion for clergy with a medical ethicist, a theologian, a psychologist-priest, and a lawyer. Our goal is to consider the law, the Medical Aid in Dying Act Overview and Safeguards, and the most recent word from the Episcopal church On Life-Sustaining Treatment and Euthanasia (passed in 1991, 1993, and 2009). It is worth a read and recommends that we do what we are doing: learning, gathering, praying, and discerning. After this panel, I will share with you some of our learnings, and I hope you will consider this moral issue in your prayer life, in conversation with loved ones, and with your priest and Christian community. Remember, Scripture says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) God is always with us, particularly when we gather in faith, open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, seeking to live a life of love.
God be with you,
+Kara
