We move from darkness to light. We do not move from light to darkness.
On Thursday Parliament voted to move forward to the committee stage, proposed legislation for assisted dying. It was a seminal moment, and all opinions will be represented here tonight. When I visited a dying person in the hospice this morning to share Holy Communion, the assistance was coming from skilled palliative care, cards and flowers, and the presence of family, surrounding her with their love. That is assisted dying, not assisted suicide.
Photo credit: Finnbarr Webster
Our society must now scrutinise the legislation and ask itself how anything like this can ever be safe, and only legislate if we can be sure, beyond all doubt. And surely, all our efforts in a modern, prosperous society, must be to ensure assisted living, in all its forms, is the priority over assisted suicide.
Today, Advent Sunday, we begin again a new Christian Year. We count the days to Christmas and the coming of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World. Christmas is the fact of the Incarnation, God coming to be among us, one with us, Emmanuel. This is why we prepare for the vision, not just of the child in the manger, but in this service, of Christ reigning in glory when all is ended and all
is complete, when everything is healed and made whole. The Incarnation is the ultimate act of assisted living – God choosing love over everything else and sharing our life here and now. The Incarnation is the ultimate act of assisted living.
We were not made for the darkness. In a moment, the lights will go out. It’s a phrase we often use to describe death. And we shall wait to see what happens. Into the deep darkness, one light is kindled, and then, with song and scripture telling the story of our salvation, God doing what we cannot do for ourselves, the light spreads and by the end, all is light and joy. A vision of heaven, here and now.
For the Christian, who wants the same for all, we move not from the light of life into darkness, with the self-administered last moment but, for the Christian, we move from the darkness into the Light of the World. At the point of no return, when our lights go out, the light of the incarnation and the joy of the resurrection shine through, when God does what we cannot do for ourselves.
We must remember, so different as we are, that we are not loved into being to move from light into darkness, and then to remain there. We are created out of love, to move from darkness to light. Amen.
The Rt Rev Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury