Pastor's Note

A MESSAGE IN THE SKY
October 8th, 2006

I was driving near the University of Toledo last week when I noticed a plane circling overhead. It was pulling a sign, the way planes often do when there is a college football game. On the sign there was a picture of an unborn baby. The words read: “Abortion – 10 weeks.” Beneath was an 800 phone number.
Since I was driving, I couldn’t study the sign any more closely, and I didn’t make out the phone number. At first, it struck me as advertisement for an abortion service. As I thought about it, however, I decided it was a reminder that a ten-week-old child in the womb already shows a lot of development. Maybe the purpose of the sign was to drive home the point that abortion takes the life of a child.
In the on-going national abortion debate, I want to share just two thoughts. First of all, many choose sides between the pregnant mother (and father) and the unborn child. Consequently, people are likely to set one against the other.
The truth, however, is that abortion hurts both the mother and the child. It is not like the mother is suddenly free to go on with life. Many studies, and my own experience in counseling, show that abortion harms the emotions and soul of the mother while at the same time ending the life of the unborn child. There are no winners.  Anyone who is reading this and has had an abortion may want to seek some healing for themselves. This is often called “post-abortion reconciliation,” and can be very beneficial.
The second point is similar. As we seek to find alternatives to abortion, we also need to be supportive of those who choose to bring their children into the world. Both child and mother need recognition as persons of worth who will need lots of support from others. Raising a child is hard.
Our society is often very weak at follow-through on many matters. Hopefully, we can be consistent in respecting the life of the new parents as well as respecting the life of the unborn. Obstacles like poverty, inaccessible child care, and lack of education have to be overcome as we try to be truly pro-life and life-affirming.
As we observe pro-life Sunday today, we can also examine how much each of us respects life.