St. Bridgid and ways to read a text

 Twenty-third Friday after Pentecost

I recently read of a Baptist pastor of a 40,000 member church in Texas, who did not want to endorse and candidate but did want his congregation to vote one way. He wanted then to vote "Biblically." He then told them they needed to know just two terms in order to vote Biblically: "Pro-life" and 'Religious freedom." They knew what he meant. Everyone know what "pro-life" means. You may not know that for evangelicals the term "Religious freedom" is code for the freedom to discriminate against LGBT people. 

 

What does the Bible actually say on these two subjects? Answer--Nothing. 

 

I will qualify that statement slightly. There are four verses scattered through the Bible that appear opposed to homosexuality. There are also prohibitions against transgendered Jews entering the Temple (we're talking about this in our Bible study of Acts 8. Jesus never said anything against homosexuality. 

 

The Bible does not speak of abortion. Neither the word abortion nor any thing else about it occurs. There is a place in Jeremiah where God says to Jeremiah, "Before you were born I knew you," and one similar instance in the Psalms. 

 

There is no one way to read a text, other than in the very simplest text. Fresh eyes can see texts in different ways. Different cultures read texts in different ways. 

I grew up being taught that the story of Noah's ark was about God's condemnation of all human kind and his salvation of one family from drowning in the deluge. God gave Noah animals to take on the ark so Noah and family would be able to start a new post-diluvian life. 20 years ago or so I heard a sermon in which the preacher read Noah's ark as a text on ecology. God wanted Noah, and wants us, to preserve all the species of the animal world. 

St. Bridgid lived in Ireland in the sixth century A.D. She established and administered numerous convents all over Ireland. Many miracles were attributed to her in the various texts about her life. We have no writings by Bridgid herself. 

In one of the many miracles a pregnant a devoutly Christian teenage girl escapes an abusive husband. She flees to Bridgid's convent and begs to be admitted as a novice nun. The nuns tell her that the convent is celibate. She cannot be admitted because she is pregnant. She tells them that if she goes back to her husband, he will kill her, and in killing her, he will kill the baby she is carrying. St. Bridgid performs a miracle. She has the girl lie down. St. Bridgid puts her hands on the girls belly and prays. The belly shrinks. The fetus is gone. The girl is no longer pregnant. She can join the convent. She has escaped her cruel husband and can lead a life of service to God. 

St. Bridgid has never been de-canonized. Next to St. Patrick she is the most popular saint in Ireland. She did many other miracles. Catholics may read this story differently. But it seems to me that what has happened here is a miracle abortion. Whether this miracle ever happened is another question. What the story illustrates to me is that there are some circumstances, difficult circumstances, when an abortion is the best option. This is the view of the United Methodist Church.

Faithfully,

Christian