Below is the text of Archbishop Peter Jensen’s address at the Anglicare Christmas Dinner
Christmas succeeds because it is so basic. A man; a woman; a baby. A set of human problems: a decision made by a lonely teenager to become mother and to bear both the child and the shameful consequences; an apparently questionable conception; talk of a divorce; the willingness of two young people to go through with the birth and to raise the child despite the cost. Would they have made that decision today? Or would there have been talk of a termination?
The abortion rate in this country has been on our minds recently. It should be on our hearts as well. Our national conscience should be aroused by the need to protect the unborn life, and the tragedy of so many young Australians lost each year before they have had a chance to enter the world.
I am speaking of minds, hearts and consciences, because it is moral work that needs to be done before there could be any possible change in the law. It may be possible, indeed it is surely desirable, that we attend to the problem of late-term abortions at the level of government. But to expect our legislators to ban abortions in advance of powerful community expectations is unrealistic. The real debate has to occur in the community first.
At one time, of course, abortions were illegal. In my understanding, the law in this State was not changed by legislative action; it was changed because juries would no longer convict. In other words, the moral debate was won and lost before the law-makers took action. For those of us committed to the belief that unborn life at all stages is precious and worthy of protection, there is little alternative to the lengthy task of persuasion, of appeal to consciences shaped by the word of God.
Where does this debate occur? At present, public argument takes place around tired slogans from the 1960s. On this, as on many other matters of deep concern, it is very difficult to find the space in which serious discussion of a moral issue can occur free from politics and posturing. On this, as on a number of other vital issues, the mood seems to be that if a something is legal it must also be moral. To raise moral issues, is to come under personal attack because it appears that you are assailing human rights.
But the problem goes deeper than that. When abortion is being discussed, for example, the point is often made that this is a matter for the individual to decide. In my experience, this is an evasive action by those who want the present situation to continue. The individual needs to decide in the light of the realities, scientific, moral and spiritual, which are involved. The refusal to debate in public is really a refusal to inform. The cry for the rights of the individual sounds persuasive because it fits in with the contemporary mood of individualism.
In other words, we are not dealing merely with a moral problem but with a spiritual one. Our contemporaries are veering more and more towards the exaltation of the solitary individual, towards autonomy in which there is no society any longer, but simply an aggregate of competing individuals, each accorded human rights which they can exercise without moral check. Words such as, nation, society, family, community will all have to be reshaped to fit in with the rights and desires of the individual.
I am strongly opposed to collectivism, in which the person is made to conform to the group. But as a Christian, I am in favour of what may be called communalism, in which the individual is shaped and nurtured by the community and finds purpose and meaning through love within the communities in which he or she exists.
This is the antithesis of the picture of the solitary individual making her painful decision about what should be done to her body in the light of what she as an individual needs. It asks a different question is a different context: what would love do in the context of the community of persons which is involved here? The problem remains painful; the decisions are still agonising; but the person involved is not on her own; she is not solitary, if only because what is in her is another life, also to be loved. The tendency of individualism is to isolate the person at the very moment when support and love is needed. Through its medical agencies society seems to deliver its verdict: this is up to you; it is your choice and yours alone; it is your body; no one else has any rights to be involved. In effect, we leave the person in a moral and spiritual vacuum.
Why have I chosen this Dinner to raise such matters? Partly because we the matter is in the public arena at the moment. I think that we need to ask our legislators to continue their discussion and to help us have ours in the wider community. I think we need to say to them that we understand that it is difficult for them to act in advance of community awareness. But we also want to say that it a matter of great national importance; don't sweep it under the carpet; it is not going to go away.
Partly, however, because the enduring concerns of a body like ANGLICARE are involved in discussion such as this. We are a group of Sydney Anglican Christians who have banded together with a purpose. We have a mandate to love all people, to love all sorts of people, to love people in the midst of all sorts of needs and problems. We love the sick; we love the strugglers; we love those in detention and in prison; we love children at risk; we love the disabled; we love the single parents. In this calling to love, we see ourselves, too, because we realise that all of us have troubles and problems and that we not only give love we receive it.
Our real motive is this: we are committed to love because Jesus Christ loved all sort of people and loved people in the midst of all sorts of needs and problems. We are committed to it because we ourselves have received his love in our own lives, even though we never deserved it. We are committed to it because he is our Lord.
But the love to which we are committed is the opposite of the individualism which is the mood of the times. The love of Jesus puts us into the firing line. We want to help the needy. As a result, we want to say that as with abortion, human need is exacerbated by the moral and spiritual philosophy which puts the individual at the centre. We want to say that true community - true humanity - is created when we put Jesus Christ at the centre of life, and then act on his instructions. It is the Bible which enables us to analyse the problems and to work on solutions which go beyond a quick fix.
Here is a story that resonates with story of that first Christmas. We can see love at work and love set to work. A story in which solutions are found which are physical, moral and spiritual, which are human because they centre on Jesus.
This story is not dissimilar to our first Christmas story, it includes a set of desperate human problems: the commitment of two young people to make life-changing sacrifices to raise an unborn child despite the cost.
Christmas hasn't always been a time of joy for Matt and Nicole. But this Christmas represents a genuine fresh start for this family from Campbelltown.
Over the past few years, Matt, a trained labourer, has struggled to maintain full-time employment as he has coped with injury, illness and the instability of employment for those in casual labouring jobs.
Matt admits his struggles saw him hit the drink a bit too hard on occasion.
In his words, "The lifestyle we were living was leading us down a dark spiral. I could just feel myself slipping lower than low and our family values washing away. There were times when I valued myself as little as two dollars."
ANGLICARE was able to help them with food hampers and basic utility bills. As well as the food and the financial assistance, they were also invited to come along for a free BBQ and regular Bible talks at the ANGLICARE office.
When Matt and Nicole first came to ANGLICARE they did not know Christ. Now they are getting married and baptised.
According to Matt and Nicole, God has made a real difference in their lives. Matt has stopped drinking. Many of their friends have turned their backs on them, but they are gaining a new group of friends through church.
Tuesdays now are much more than a free meal for Matt and Nicole. They thrive on the Bible teaching and fellowship.
For Matt and Nicole, Christmas will be different this year. With Matt only able to work casually and Nicole pregnant with their fourth child, the financial strain is still there. But this year they will be looking forward to celebrating the real joy of Christmas: the birth of Jesus.
ANGLICARE only exist because of your support and love in helping us reach out to the most vulnerable members in our community. Without your generosity in providing hampers or other emergency relief, ANGLICARE wouldn't be able to help people like Matt and Nicole.
