March 27, 2005

Early in his ministry Jesus preached to his disciples nine blessings we call the Beatitudes: ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The risen Jesus greeted the first witnesses of his resurrection, “Rejoice.” It is the same word that ended the Beatitudes, “Rejoice!” “⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Rejoice!” We come rejoicing at the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection which is our assurance of new and eternal life in Christ.

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.” Rejoice! “And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” Jesus commands us, “¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

I greet you today with Jesus’ word, “Rejoice!” We rejoice with Jesus just as the father of the prodigal rejoiced as he saw his long lost son dragging up the road, hungry, broke, clothes worn out, ashamed of how he had wasted his inheritance, and his life, and his father’s love and trust, saying over and over in his mind, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no more worthy to be called your son.” The father rejoiced, “let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” And when the outwardly obedient and inwardly resentful older brother complained, the father repeated his joy, “We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was lost and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”

All of us are both elder brother and younger brother, in some things outwardly obedient and inwardly resentful, and in other ways hungry, broke, and ashamed. And when we come to our real selves as children of the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, when we come to believe in him, God rejoices, and gives eternal life in Jesus Christ. So rejoice as we spend time with the risen Christ, enjoying the flowers of the garden, feasting with the risen Lord as the disciples did that day on the road to Emmaus when he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

We’d like to stay in the garden with him, “but he bids me go, through the voice of woe, his voice to me is calling. And through the woe and the pain and the suffering and the difficult decisions and the tragedies of life, “he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever know.”

Last Sunday night, lying at Grace Hospital for observation after I fainted here at the end of the gospel, when I wasn’t watching basketball I watched the news, mostly about Terri Schiavo, a tragedy played out this Holy Week. Like most of life, her situation is a mess. All the people involved have their own agendas and all of us have opinions, based on our own experience, and our own understanding of the situation. The squabbles are over money, and principles, and standards of medical ethics and who loves Terri most and who gets to make the decisions. Everyone has an opinion, and only God knows what is right. God knows, but the courts get to decide.

The 1976 Karen Quinlan and 1990 Nancy Cruzan cases set the precedent that people may refuse medical treatment and may appoint someone to make decisions for them if they cannot do so. The 1991 Episcopal General Convention adopted a seven part resolution endorsing this understanding including a decision to deny food and water. Lucy and I have health care powers of attorney; we made them when we last made our wills in 2001. I encourage you to review your will and your health care power of attorney or to get them if you don’t have them.

I am sure that God loves Terri Schiavo and that we wants to welcome her home to be with him, healthy, fully conscious, rejoicing in his presence, enjoying the dew on the roses in the garden. I believe God wants the same for her parents, and for her husband and his family. I know God will have some things to say to me at the gates of heaven, and I think he will have some things to say all of us. God is in the midst of tragedies like Terri Schiavo’s, and he is with her parents and all of us. “And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.”

The garden we walk in with Jesus is the garden of Eden, and the garden of Gethsemane, and the garden of Easter morning. We get to be here a little while, and then “he bids me go, through the voice of woe, his voice to me is calling, and he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever know.”

Rejoice, and again I say, Rejoice! “¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

Resolution of the 1991 General Convention

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That this 70th General Convention set forth the following principles and guidelines with regard to the foregoing of life-sustaining treatment in the light of our understanding of the sacredness of human life:

1. Although human life is sacred, death is part of the earthly cycle of life. There is a "time to be born and a time to die" (Eccl. 3:2). The resurrection of Jesus Christ transforms death into a transition to eternal life: "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead" (I Cor. 15:21).

2. Despite this hope, it is morally wrong and unacceptable to intentionally take a human life in order to relieve the suffering caused by incurable illness. This would include the intentional shortening of another person's life by the use of a lethal dose of medication or poison, the use of lethal weapons, homicidal acts, and other forms of active euthanasia. Palliative treatment to relieve the pain of persons with progressive incurable illnesses, even if done with the knowledge that a hastened death may result, is consistent with theological tenets regarding the sanctity of life. However, there is no moral obligation to prolong the act of dying by extraordinary means and at all costs if such dying person is ill and has no reasonable expectation of recovery.

3. In those cases involving persons who are in a comatose state from which there is no reasonable expectation of recovery, subject to legal restraints, this Church's members are urged to seek the advice and counsel of members of the church community, and where appropriate, its sacramental life, in contemplating the withholding or removing of life-sustaining systems, including hydration and nutrition.

4. We acknowledge that the withholding or removing of life-sustaining systems has a tragic dimension. The decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment should ultimately rest with the patient, or with the patient's surrogate decision-makers in the case of a mentally incapacitated patient. We therefore express our deep conviction that any proposed legislation on the part of national or state governments regarding the so called "right to die" issues, (a) must take special care to see that the individual's rights are respected and that the responsibility of individuals to reach informed decisions in this matter is acknowledged and honored, and (b) must also provide expressly for the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining systems, where the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining systems has been arrived at with proper safeguards against abuse.

5. We acknowledge that there are circumstances in which health care providers, in good conscience, may decline to act on request to terminate life-sustaining systems if they object on moral or religious grounds. In such cases we endorse the idea of respecting the patient's right to self-determination by permitting such patient to be transferred to another facility or physician willing to honor the patient's request, provided that the patient can readily, comfortably and safely be transferred. We encourage health care providers who make it a policy to decline involvement in the termination of life-sustaining systems to communicate their policy to patients or their surrogates at the earliest opportunity, preferably before the patients or their surrogates have engaged the services of such a health care provider.

6. Advance written directives (so-called "living wills," "declarations concerning medical treatment" and "durable powers of attorney setting forth medical declarations") that make a person's wishes concerning the continuation or withholding or removing of life-sustaining systems should be encouraged, and this Church's members are encouraged to execute such advance written directives during good health and competence and that the execution of such advance written directives constitute loving and moral acts.

7. We urge the Council of Seminary Deans, the Christian Education departments of each diocese, and those in charge of programs of continuing education for clergy and all others responsible for education programs in this Church, to consider seriously the inclusion of basic training in issues of prolongation of life and death with dignity in their curricula and programs.

A statement issued Feb. 25 by Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick supports the family of Terri Schiavo in their fight to keep the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube in place.

Schiavo, 41, has been without food and water since March 18, in accordance with the ruling of a Florida state judge. Her parents and family are fighting to have the feeding tube reinserted; Schiavo's husband, Michael, says his wife would not have wanted to live in her present condition and he has fought to have the tube removed. The Schiavo case is now before a federal appeals court in Atlanta.

"Judging from various news reports, it does not appear that Ms. Schiavo has entered irretrievably into the dying process," Kieschnick's statement reads. "Therefore, administering food and hydration would belong in the realm of ordinary care and should not be withdrawn. Removing Terri's feeding tube will not allow her to die, since she is not dying. Removing her tube will, in fact, cause her to die."

The court struggle, Kieschnick says, "has the potential effectively to legalize and set a dangerous precedent for this type of killing in our country -- a precedent that would have profound effects on our culture as a whole. Our society is shaped by the value we place on human life. If we believe that the life of every human being is of special worth, we will choose to treat each person with care and respect. As we face often-difficult end-of-life issues, our aim must always be to care, never to kill."