As director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and university chaplain at Pacific University, I have the privilege of offering prayers such as the invocation at Commencement. Yesterday, we held both the undergraduate and professional and graduate Commencement exercises.  Below is the prayer and meditation I shared:

Good morning.

In 1849, members of what is now called the United Church of Christ founded what would become known as Pacific University. The United Church of Christ, the church of the Pilgrims, has over the centuries evolved into an open and affirming denomination that values diversity, religious pluralism, education, and a just society.

The mission of Pacific University embodies these same principles: to inspire “students to think, care, create, and pursue justice in our world.”

As we gather, let us first begin with a moment of silence for those we have lost in our Pacific family this past year…

Now please join me in a time of prayer and meditation:

Will you please join me in a time of prayer and meditation:

Loving God,

As we gather today, we do so in a moment of celebration.

We celebrate the accomplishments of graduates, who have given their all in the pursuit of higher education.

We celebrate the faculty, staff, alum, and donors, who have done everything possible to mentor a new class of scholars.

We celebrate the families and friends gathered here, whose support have meant the difference between failure and success.

There is much to be thankful for today. Not only do we give thanks for all the academic accomplishments that are being recognized, we give thanks for the friends made, for love we have found, and for the support this community has given to one another in difficult moments.

Commencement represents an ending, but also a new beginning. The Pacific University mission of helping to create a more just world does not end with a diploma; it is a charge given to all who are part of the Pacific community to propel us into the future.

We ask for strength and wisdom in this task, as the challenges before all the world are as complex as any moment in human history.

Help us to listen for voices which call us to support the common good over voices that demand walls between us.

Help us to be voices for justice and reconciliation, even as other voices are lifted up that preach messages rooted in racism, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia.

We face a political crisis in the United States and an unparalleled ecological crisis across the globe. Racism, bigotry, and inequality plague us. It would be easy and even understandable to surrender to the complexity and difficulty of it all.

If we did, however, we would betray those who came before us at other moments of crisis to demand that the realities of their time bend. The 19th-century Unitarian minister and abolitionist Theodore Parker once offered this wisdom:

”I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

That belief - that the universe bends towards justice - propelled the abolitionist movement that ended slavery, the suffrage movement that won women the right to vote, and the Great Civil Rights Movement.

The world needs movement leaders today who are ready to bend the moral arc of the universe. Help us to be those leaders.

We know that this generation represented among graduates today have been dealt a terrible hand, but we recognize these same young people have the moral and intellectual capacity to change the course of history.

Let us close this time of prayer and meditation with these words from the Book of Isaiah.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday...
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

May we be repairers of the breach, the restorer of streets.

Amen.

There is renewed national debate over abortion. Let’s begin here: the pro-choice position is consistent with Christian ethics. As the United Church of Christ has maintained for decades, Jesus affirmed the moral agency of women. Those of us who are Christian should follow that example.

Republicans in Alabama and other states have launched a full-throated assault on Roe v Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that guarantees the right of women to seek out safe abortion services. Many of the legislators involved in this effort claim their Christian faith as the driving factor in their push to outlaw abortion.

The Bible offers no clear guidance on abortion. Many opponents of abortion point to vague passages to justify their stance. That’s proof-texting, nothing more.

My own belief is good people can come to different conclusions on this issue. Scripture does argue for respecting human life, but does that include outlawing a medical procedure that terminates the possibility of life when only a collection of small cells is being carried? My answer would be no.

That does not mean I’m entirely comfortable with abortion. My mother was a certified nurse midwife. She spent her career bringing babies into the world, and fighting to improve public health services for women and children. She was personally opposed to abortion but believed women should have the right to make their own decisions about health care. My position is the same.

Returning the United States to the pre-Roe v Wade days would not end abortion. It would merely return abortions to the back allies, where women would risk their health and even their lives. How would that be pro-life?

We should make ethical decisions that make abortion rare and a real informed choice. Abortion rates dropped dramatically during the Obama Administration, as access to family planning, sex education in schools, and contraception expanded. We should also do everything possible to expand support for mothers, families, and children. No one should be forced to have an abortion out of financial concern. That is no real choice at all. Efforts to expand adoption services should also be a priority.

The efforts to ban abortion – by mostly male politicians – is a political effort. Some of those involved do have a real concern for the life of babies, but for most that concern ends once the baby is born. These same politicians vote to slash funding for health care and other services that help ensure children thrive. Many of those opposed to abortion are also opposed to family planning. Their primary concern is control over women, not life.

For those who genuinely see the abortion debate as one regarding life, I would urge that we set aside political attacks on Roe v Wade, and focus on finding common ground. Many people of faith, from all backgrounds, reject the charged and sometimes hateful rhetoric involved with the abortion debate. These folks see the good in family planning and support services for women and children. Let’s refocus our attention in that direction. In the meantime, it is vital that we stand up against laws like the one in Alabama that are so harmful.