A Special Message from Your Pastors
About Reproductive Justice
May 6, 2022
Dear Friends,
If you’ve paid attention to the news this week, you’ve likely heard about a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case involving reproductive justice and the right of access to abortion care for those who need it. The draft indicates there are enough votes on the Court to overturn federal protection of this right established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. More than that, the draft argument for this reversal makes connections to two other landmark court cases that have helped affirm the equal rights of LGBTQ+ persons, Lawrence v. Texas (legalizing consensual sex between adults of any gender) and Obergefell v. Hodges (marriage equality). Many legal scholars suspect that should this argument appear in the final verdict, becoming legal precedent, these civil rights protections will be at risk as well. While what was leaked is only a draft, if it accurately conveys the inclination of the current Court, it points to a very near future where the rights of Americans, particularly women, to govern their own bodies and create the families they feel called to have will be even more severely restricted and, in at least half the country, completely eradicated. As usual, these hardships will fall hardest on the most marginalized among us, including Black and Indigenous women, women living in poverty, and transgender men and gender non-binary folks who need access to this care.
We know there a variety of opinions in our congregation about abortion. We are not asking us to debate that at this time. We are asking you to actively and prayerfully consider how you understand questions of bodily autonomy, freedom, creating a family of your own choice, and loving your neighbor, in light of your faith.
More than that, and more urgently, we are asking you to consider how Christ calls us to respond to folks for whom this future (and, in many cases, already present) reality fills them with grief, terror, anger, and helplessness. As in the example of the Good Samaritan, who went out of his way to care for an enemy, how do we tend our neighbor’s immediate pain, perhaps despite our beliefs? In the Way of Jesus, confusion is no excuse not to care and being right is never enough. We are called to love one another as God has loved us, in concrete ways here and now. We are called to show up in this moment with love and justice, which, ask Dr. Cornell West reminds us, is just “what love looks like in public.”
There are public ways to respond to this proposed profound shift in policy. Whatever your views, I hope you will reach out to your elected representatives and let them know your mind. (You can do that at myreps.datamade.us) More personally, if you are feeling any of those feelings—grief, terror, anger,
helplessness—or just overwhelmed or even numb, please know that, as your pastors, we are available to sit in this moment with you and listen, one to one. Please reach out to us via at revjohn@needhamucc.org or 781.786.9689 and revmaddie@needhamucc.org or 203.823.3219 (NOTE: Rev. Maddie asks that, given her own pregnancy, if you feel a need to share stories of birth trauma or complications—as well you may—you share those with Rev. John at this time.)
Peace & Courage,
Rev. John MacIver Gage, Senior Minister Rev. Maddie Foster, Minister for Christian Education & Youth
Dear Friends,
If you’ve paid attention to the news this week, you’ve likely heard about a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case involving reproductive justice and the right of access to abortion care for those who need it. The draft indicates there are enough votes on the Court to overturn federal protection of this right established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. More than that, the draft argument for this reversal makes connections to two other landmark court cases that have helped affirm the equal rights of LGBTQ+ persons, Lawrence v. Texas (legalizing consensual sex between adults of any gender) and Obergefell v. Hodges (marriage equality). Many legal scholars suspect that should this argument appear in the final verdict, becoming legal precedent, these civil rights protections will be at risk as well. While what was leaked is only a draft, if it accurately conveys the inclination of the current Court, it points to a very near future where the rights of Americans, particularly women, to govern their own bodies and create the families they feel called to have will be even more severely restricted and, in at least half the country, completely eradicated. As usual, these hardships will fall hardest on the most marginalized among us, including Black and Indigenous women, women living in poverty, and transgender men and gender non-binary folks who need access to this care.
We know there a variety of opinions in our congregation about abortion. We are not asking us to debate that at this time. We are asking you to actively and prayerfully consider how you understand questions of bodily autonomy, freedom, creating a family of your own choice, and loving your neighbor, in light of your faith.
More than that, and more urgently, we are asking you to consider how Christ calls us to respond to folks for whom this future (and, in many cases, already present) reality fills them with grief, terror, anger, and helplessness. As in the example of the Good Samaritan, who went out of his way to care for an enemy, how do we tend our neighbor’s immediate pain, perhaps despite our beliefs? In the Way of Jesus, confusion is no excuse not to care and being right is never enough. We are called to love one another as God has loved us, in concrete ways here and now. We are called to show up in this moment with love and justice, which, ask Dr. Cornell West reminds us, is just “what love looks like in public.”
There are public ways to respond to this proposed profound shift in policy. Whatever your views, I hope you will reach out to your elected representatives and let them know your mind. (You can do that at myreps.datamade.us) More personally, if you are feeling any of those feelings—grief, terror, anger,
helplessness—or just overwhelmed or even numb, please know that, as your pastors, we are available to sit in this moment with you and listen, one to one. Please reach out to us via at revjohn@needhamucc.org or 781.786.9689 and revmaddie@needhamucc.org or 203.823.3219 (NOTE: Rev. Maddie asks that, given her own pregnancy, if you feel a need to share stories of birth trauma or complications—as well you may—you share those with Rev. John at this time.)
Peace & Courage,
Rev. John MacIver Gage, Senior Minister Rev. Maddie Foster, Minister for Christian Education & Youth