Frederick Buechner On Abortion

Lisa and I were out with some friends the other night. I mentioned Frederick Buechner, and couldn't remember the title of his book, Whistling In The Dark: An ABC Theologized. I was checking it out on Amazon and came across the very first entry.

There is perhaps no better illustration of the truth that in an imperfect world there are no perfect solutions. All we can do, as Luther said, is sin bravely, which is to say (a) know that neither to have the child nor not to have the child is without the tragic possibility of tragic consequences for everybody yet (b) yet be brave enough in knowing also that not even that can put us beyond the loving grace of God.

Which is a nice way of cutting through the self-righteous self-assurance of anyone who says that have the definitive answer on this matter for everyone. Whether pro-life or pro-choice, it might be nice to be pro-human and shut the hell up and listen to people and pray with them and love them because, at the end of the day, that's what Jesus did. That's what we're supposed to do. Sin bravely, because that's all any of us can do. Trust enough in God's grace to separate the wheat from the chaff in our lives.