Genetic engineering—it is now part
of our present, not the future. Soon and very soon, well-off
parents-to-be will be able to make a list of the traits
they want in their offspring, arrange for the contraception
to take place outside the womb, and accept only the embryo
that has the proper genes to fit their order.
Kind of scary, isn't it? I wonder what
my parents would have ordered if they have been able to
do that before I was born? I'd still be a girl—they
already had birthed a son, and my dad wanted a daughter
badly. But surely my hair would have been far less curly,
I'd have extensive musical gifts (my father's favorite
phrase about my voice: “You can't carry a tune in
a bucket”) and I'd be at least four inches taller.
I also hope I would be more organized, but don't know
yet if there is a gene for that.
What I would have ordered had I been able
to do that with my own children? Would I have born three
sons? Surely I would have picked a daughter somewhere
along the line, but which of my sons could I possibly
envision my life without? Not one, of course. They are
each so precious, and I have been enriched beyond words
by their births and lives. Would I have liked them not
to have suffered from asthma? Yep, that one is easy. And
yet, much of that suffering also shaped their lives and
mine, teaching us patience and faith in God and persistence
and compassion and reminding us often daily of the fragility
of life. Those are such good gifts. On the other hand
I would have liked for my oldest son to be able to carry
a tune!!!
As I ponder these thoughts, I'm aware that
it is easy to be afraid of this move to manipulate our
genetic makeup by science and decry it as against God's
will.. Christian people have struggled with scientific
discoveries like this for recorded history. It wasn't
all that long ago that pain relief for women in childbirth
was seen as distinctly anti-biblical because of an interpretation
of a passage in Genesis that suggests that God WANTS women
to suffer in childbirth. But even so, is it God's will
be to able to order our children's genes to fit what we
think we want?
That's a tough one.
I suspect the real issue here is the human
need to be able to control, or at least think we control,
our lives and our future. We want to be able to think
that we can make things safe enough that we can actually
insure our happiness and comfort. One of the ways to do
that is to control our environment as much as possible.
After all, is anyone reading this upset about the use
of central air conditioning on 100 degree days or an efficient
heating system now that it has turned chilly?
I was thinking about our need to control
the universe when I heard the rain start to fall on Saturday
morning. What a glorious sound that was. We are way too
dry again, and rain is such a blessing for us. Will we
ever be able to really control the weather? We can predict
it with some accuracy now (but no one guessed that it
might snow on Thanksgiving Day!), but controlling it is
a very different thing. I have a feeling we will live
at the mercy of weather for many, many lifetimes in front
of us.
I think that is a good thing. If nothing
else, our inability to control weather can remind us that
we humans really are not all that powerful. We can't stop
a tornado, or create a noisy thunderstorm or cleanse the
oceans with hurricanes or create new islands with volcanoes
(OK, that's not exactly weather, but you get the idea).
We think we're important—but we're not all that
powerful. Not really. Not even when we can play with genes.
So, maybe we should consider that there
is something a lot more powerful in our universe, and
consider whether that powerful something just might be
interested in us, in our souls, in our redemption, in
our present lives and in our future life. Maybe, just
maybe, that powerful something, whom we call God, may
even be interested enough to enter our experience in the
form of humanity. Maybe, just maybe, a baby was born in
strangely inauspicious circumstances a long, long time
ago. And maybe, just maybe, that baby offered the possibility
of peace on earth.
Maybe, just maybe, we need to get ready
to receive that peace. Maybe, just maybe, God is full
of surprising love and chooses to express it in surprising
ways. Just something to think about while we try to order
our lives so we don't have any surprises
