Health & Fitness
Questions about Question 2
We obsess about how to eat, dress, drink, finding a job, a mate. But we don't talk about how to die. We act as if facing death weren't one of life's greatest, thrills and challenges.
A friend of mine remarked that given that I am not a US citizen and I can't vote, I have spend considerable time and energy devolte to the local elections, especially the Question 2 on the November ballot - or prescribing medication to end life.
That is absolutely true. I believe - no matter where you stand on this issue - it raises a number of questions: legal ones, societal ones, and theological ones if you are a person of faith. It is no small or trite matter that we are being asked to vote and decide upon.
Writer and commentator Dudley Cleninden once wrote in the "New York Times" that: "We obsess in this country about how to eat and dress and drink, about finding a job and a mate. About having sex and children. About how to live. But we don’t talk about how to die. We act as if facing death weren’t one of life’s greatest, most absorbing thrills and challenges. Believe me, it is. This is not dull." (The New York Times, July 10, 2011)
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Indeed our popular culture invites us to think about everything else BUT death. Careers, sexuality, ecology - but not about the one thing that we will all, ALL - Republicans, Democrats, Independants - will have to face. That of our passing. The only times death is being dealt with is in horror movies - when the whole story and plot line make it a grotesque, surreal - and not real. I mean, how many of you really fear being killed by a serial killer with a chainsaw? How many of people you know, died in that way?
First Church in Marlborough sees as part of its mission to ask the great questions of life and theology. So, this Sunday we will have a nmuber of events around Question 2.
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At 10 AM during worship I will preach on the issue "To whom do we belong?" where I will try to address the theological issues around Question 2 from a Christian perspective.
At 2 PM we invite ALL those inetersted to an Open Forum About Question 2, where proponents, opponents, clinicians and ethicists will discuss the topic. We will gather at church hall. Tea and coffee will be available.
You will find more details about the event here.
We invite ALL to come to both or any of these events.
We hope and pray that by attending and asking questions you might be better informed and make your own informed decision on the day of the vote.
