As Canada allows more and more people to opt for “MAiD”—Medical Assistance in Dying, their government euthanasia program—churches are faced with a pastoral problem: What do you do if someone in your church decides to end their own life at the hand of a doctor? Well, according to the Anglican Church of Canada, you go to their bedside with a liturgy ready to go.
Now the document doesn’t appear to celebrate MAiD. Read what it says in the introduction to this 60-page Pastoral Liturgies at the Time of Death in Contexts of Medically Assisted Dying document:
“Many of the conversations around what constitutes a good death seek to enshrine dignity of the dying person as the highest value. Very often, the understanding of dignity is tied to one’s autonomy in agency—being able to think, act, and make decisions on one’s own. Human dignity, however, rests in our being created by a loving God. It is not something to be tied to a question of worth to be determined according to standards that place autonomy as the highest value of dignity. God has given us dignity and worth as part of who we are as God’s creatures. Our agency in health care decisions is, furthermore, something that we need to entrust to God in our discernment. We do not make decisions alone, but in the presence of God.“
Of course, we would agree with much of that—autonomy is not what gives us dignity, rather God endowed us with dignity when He created us in His very image (interestingly they say “God’s creatures,” rather than being made in God’s image. That’s not surprising given that, by and large, this liberal denomination accepts evolutionary ideas). But instead of stopping there and denouncing euthanasia as to what it is—the intentional killing of a human being (murder)—and urging people to start their thinking with Scripture on this issue, they say: “It is not our intent to enter into the ethical arguments regarding MAiD, nor to provide a moral argument for or against MAiD. This resource is about responding to pastoral needs of those who are dying.”
In other words: “It might be right; it might be wrong. Who are we to say? But here’s a resource to give you prayers and Scripture readings at the bedside of someone ending their own life.” They go on to suggest some pastors might not be okay with seeming to bless MAiD, but don’t worry, you can “walk the challenging path” of choosing and adapting prayers so as not to imply God blesses the procedure:
“A critical consideration for some pastors will be the question of whether or not in pronouncing God’s blessing on the person who is dying, they are blessing the act of the decision towards or blessing the procedure itself. To some following some Dioceses’ guidance or their own consciences, it will be important to walk the challenging path in choosing and adapting prayers in this resource that do not imply that the procedure, the medical assistance in dying itself, and the decision to employ MAiD, are not being given God’s blessing. It is, however, a normal part of pastoral care to be praying for and to offer God’s and the Church’s blessing on the person who is dying.”
However, after all these careful caveats, the introduction then says this:
“People who choose MAiD freely and without coercion may indeed be ready to go. They have been living with and suffering through complex health challenges and they want the pain to stop. They want to be able to sleep. They desperately do not want their families and loved ones to watch and wait, wondering how much longer? They have exhausted all medical options, and they know, everyone knows, that there is no cure. Some wish, most of all, not to be alone at the time of their death, and to die well. Some, who are Christian, also desire not to be alone at the time of their death, and to die well, and with the grace and blessing of God and with the presence of the Church at their side.”
That reads an awful lot like a stamp of approval on MAiD from the writers of this liturgical guide!
The guide then gives prayers, confessions, and Scripture readings, along with instructions for communion, to be administered before and after the physician gives the lethal injection and the person’s life ends.
This guidance is an example of someone using the Bible and very Christian-sounding language without actually believing the Bible or having their worldview shaped by Scripture. They have an “appearance of godliness” in their Christianized language, but in reality, they are claiming that it is a person’s choice whether or not to end their own life and pastors have a duty to be there when that person dies to walk them through it—not to persuade them otherwise or show them from God’s Word that murder is wrong but to participate in their death through the liturgy.
It certainly appears compassionate, but only because they use euphemisms to obscure what is really happening: A physician is murdering a patient. Just because the patient has requested to be murdered doesn’t make murder okay!
In a fallen world, we will all suffer, but we do not hold the authority of life and death over our own bodies. We are not autonomous. God is our Creator, and He holds our lives in His hands and has sovereignly written in our book the number of our days. We look to Him, not our own fallible human wisdom, for what is right and good.
Whether they want to admit it or not, a euthanasia liturgy is the church blessing the choice of self-murder. It is the church condoning evil. Those who are suffering need palliative care from the medical profession—not a lethal injection—and compassion, kindness, and love from the church (and the gospel if they don’t know Christ!). What they don’t need is approval of a sinful choice that takes control into our own hands instead of trusting in the Creator who numbers our days.
