A Powerful Example

I don't about you, but when I learn about a tragedy that affects hundreds, thousands, or millions of people, I fail to grasp the enormity of the event. I can't visualize how many individuals the tragedy really encompasses. For example, when I heard about 1.5 million Haitians living in the tent cities after the earthquake, I couldn't comprehend what that looked like or how many individual people that was.

This past Sunday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, and our Pastor shared some statistics about the number of abortions that have occurred since the Supreme Court legalized it in the Roe v. Wade case. He touted facts such as 3 abortions occur in the U.S. every minute. Then, he did the math and said that during the time left in the service (45 minutes), 135 babies would be aborted. I thought to myself, "That is tragic!"

And then, Pastor had all the people in the outside two sections of the church stand up. He had gone through the Sanctuary earlier in the service and counted the people in those sections. The number of people standing was approximately the number of babies that would be aborted during the next 45 minutes. Almost half of the congregation was standing. Looking at them and thinking about that amount of loss of life in just the few minutes left during the service, I was stunned. What a powerful example of the tragedy of abortion!

If a gunman had come into the service and shot that many people, the whole world would have heard about the story. I can imagine the front page headline, "Tragic shooting in church. 135 dead." People would be shocked, outraged, and angry at how such a tragedy could occur in the United States. Why don't we have that type of reaction to abortion? How do I, as a Christian, react to abortion? How should I react? What is the Biblical response?

When I'm considering a politician as a candidate for whom I might cast a vote, I often turn to organizations, such as Right to Life, to see if they endorse that man or woman. What is that politician's stand on abortion? I do use the information as an important factor in my decision whether I will vote for that candidate, but I do not hold to the maxim that I will never vote for a candidate who supports abortion.

Once a year, I am reminded of the fight against abortion by an announcement in our church bulletin stating that Right to Life is holding a prayer vigil in our county on a Sunday afternoon and is looking for people to join them. Only once have I participated in this vigil. Why is it so inconvenient for me to take 2 or 3 hours out of my life, once a year, to focus on abortion and to pray for the victims and for the law to be changed?

Lord, thank you for the powerful example given which demonstrated to me the immenseness of the abortion tragedy. Forgive me for being callous to human tragedies around me -- whether suffered by only one person or by millions. Teach me to respond correctly and show me how you want me to minister your love to hurting people.

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