wfn.org | Re: United Methodist Daily News note 561

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Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (564
notes).

Note 564 by UMNS on Jan. 23, 1998 at 16:32 Eastern (3277 characters).

TITLE:	Pastor Lauds Modern Miracle Birth

Contact:  Joretta Purdue					 37(10-71B){564}
		Washington, D.C. (202)546-8722      Jan. 23, 1998 	

Minister finds anti-abortion lesson
in stories of septuplets' birth

	WASHINGTON (UMNS) -– About 30 people heard a United Methodist pastor contrast
stories of births from news headlines during a sermon in which he condemned
U.S. abortion laws.
	The occasion was the 10th annual worship service held Jan. 22 by the
Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality, an unofficial caucus
of denomination members, in the United Methodist Building here. It coincided
with the 25th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision by the Supreme Court -–
located just across the street -- that legalized abortion in the United
States.
	The Rev. Marc Rogers, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Wortham,
Texas, cited two births that made headlines recently. One involved the death
of a child, while the other resulted in the successful birth of septuplets.
	Rogers described the case of Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson, two teen-agers
who were charged with killing their newborn boy at a Delaware motel and
putting his body in a dumpster in 1996. Rogers compared their story with that
of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in another inn in another time.
	In a past Advent sermon, Rogers said, he asked his congregation how fair it
was for the nation to condemn Grossberg and Peterson when current laws would
support her legal right to have a partial-birth abortion a week, a day or even
an hour before she gave birth.
	Rogers contrasted this with the story of Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey, a Baptist
couple living in Iowa, and the birth of their septuplets last year.
	"What happened was and is a miracle of God," Rogers said. "And like Mary and
Joseph, God used these ordinary, extraordinary people to reveal his purpose
and power in the world."
	When specialists in high-risk pregnancy counseled "selective reduction"
because seven babies had never survived, Rogers said, the McCaugheys relied on
God. Selective reduction would have involved aborting some of the fetuses.
	Rogers recounted how the McCaugheys' church cooked and cleaned for the
family, and provided babysitting help for the couple's child when the mother
was confined to bed during pregnancy. The church's prayer chain was quickly
engaged on behalf of the family. 
	Rogers described how the McCaugheys' family sang the Doxology upon learning
that everyone had survived the birth. And the preacher recalled that the
specialist who had recommended selective reduction wept on camera after the
delivery.
	"You know," the specialist said, "a lot of people believe that God is
abstract, but he is not abstract at all."
	"This," said Rogers, "is the heart of our struggle over abortion, for it is a
struggle between gods."
	One is an abstract, rational, distant god, who is worshipped by many, he
said. "The worship of this false god, the god of abstraction, is killing us
literally -- killing not only unborn children, but killing our nation and our
church."
	The true God is a loving deity who offers forgiveness to all, he said.
	Rogers praised the McCaugheys for their "simple, eloquent witness." God, he
said, works through people by their consent, faithful prayer and obedience.
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