There's a really neat book called The Boy in the Moon by Ian Brown. He has a son with a very rare genetic disorder that renders him profoundly disabled. He writes very openly (and really well) about how uncomfortable he is with his son Walker's differences at particular points in their lives and how profoundly Walker challenges him to come to that question of value.
Some articles he wrote as he was writing the book are online and I think this one might give you some thoughts for your sermon (if you need any):
In his search he actually goes to France to spend some time in one of the Jean Vanier L'Arche communities (another author to check out if you haven't already- Becoming Human is really a great Christian text).
Anyways the reason I bring all this up is that the willingness to assist suicide of people who are seen as disabled while NOT extending the same thinking to able, depressed people really does I think come most profoundly at the question of the value of a life that does not conform to any of the usual parameters of success. And both those authors address it really well (and differently). I wish I'd thought to recommend them sooner.
It's Vanier's position that peace only comes when people are valued for who they are whatever their capacities and given support in finding their own joy and light in the world.
He sees accepting help as really hard, but really critical in spiritual development. And he says that one reason we're uncomfortable with differently-abled people is because we think we could never live needing all that help. And we assume that if you need help, you can't give. And then he kind of turns all that on its head.
Coming at this discussion as a parent who has taken her infant off life support (not the same, I agree, as taking an action), I have to say that I think about it every day. I think I made the right decision given everything. But at the same time I feel it's very important for me to still live with doubt about it because it was such a profound moral decision and it should be unsettling forever.
I worry about assisted suicide not just on behalf of the people who might end up, you know, dead, but on behalf of everyone who would be implicated - everyone, if it were legal - because it seems to me to impose some limits on our response to suffering and brings a certain moral jepoardy. If our bottom-line response to suffering is to end the suffering at all costs, I think we may miss opportunities.
no subject
Some articles he wrote as he was writing the book are online and I think this one might give you some thoughts for your sermon (if you need any):
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/features/focus/boyinthemoon/
In his search he actually goes to France to spend some time in one of the Jean Vanier L'Arche communities (another author to check out if you haven't already- Becoming Human is really a great Christian text).
Anyways the reason I bring all this up is that the willingness to assist suicide of people who are seen as disabled while NOT extending the same thinking to able, depressed people really does I think come most profoundly at the question of the value of a life that does not conform to any of the usual parameters of success. And both those authors address it really well (and differently). I wish I'd thought to recommend them sooner.
It's Vanier's position that peace only comes when people are valued for who they are whatever their capacities and given support in finding their own joy and light in the world.
He sees accepting help as really hard, but really critical in spiritual development. And he says that one reason we're uncomfortable with differently-abled people is because we think we could never live needing all that help. And we assume that if you need help, you can't give. And then he kind of turns all that on its head.
Coming at this discussion as a parent who has taken her infant off life support (not the same, I agree, as taking an action), I have to say that I think about it every day. I think I made the right decision given everything. But at the same time I feel it's very important for me to still live with doubt about it because it was such a profound moral decision and it should be unsettling forever.
I worry about assisted suicide not just on behalf of the people who might end up, you know, dead, but on behalf of everyone who would be implicated - everyone, if it were legal - because it seems to me to impose some limits on our response to suffering and brings a certain moral jepoardy. If our bottom-line response to suffering is to end the suffering at all costs, I think we may miss opportunities.