Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany
being January the Twenty Fifth, in the year of our Lord 2004,
Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

We are celebrating Sanctity of Life Sunday this morning. In our bulletin, you will see the recommendation from our bishop encouraging every parish to consider and discuss the sanctity of life in the light of the legalization of abortion on demand in our country 31 years ago. We are especially asked to do this until the practice of abortion on demand is abolished in our country.

January 22 marked the 31st anniversary of the 1973 Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision basically stating that every woman has the right to an abortion. Since that decision, U.S. women have exercised that right over 50 million times. When Roe V. Wade was decided, it struck down virtually all prohibitions against abortion through the nine months of pregnancy. In essence, Roe V. Wade invented a mother's right to have her unborn child killed and a business's right to make a profit by doing it for her. During January especially, Christians will reflect with horror and sorrow upon this decision.

In beginning to use the Prayer Book, one of the more difficult adjustments was referring to ourselves as "miserable offenders" in the Prayer of Confession. The phrase has even been removed from the modern 1979 version. For me, Roe V. Wade underscores the imperative for making the weekly corporate confession and using this phrase, miserable offenders. It is a corporate confession, asking God's mercy upon us and upon our wayward race in hope that His grace would continually shine upon our darkness and enable us to live godly, righteous, and sober lives to the glory of His Name.

Roe V. Wade is more a symptom of our crisis than its cause. The political maneuvering and legal gymnastics needed for an overturn are important and need to continue; however, law and politics lie downstream from culture and therein lies our problem. Roe V. Wade is the affirmation of a culture which has lost its moorings, which has forgotten God. Regarding abortion, our current culture has distanced itself from the Biblical idea that children are a gift from the Lord and the hope of the future. While we did not inherit a barren world, I fear that we are stripping it bare morally and physically, and leaving little of substance for future generations to build upon. Our acceptance and protection of abortion on demand expresses a deep and deeply corrupting notion about the nature of human life and of the world in which we live. We have embraced the mistaken notion that the meaning of life and of the cosmos is something we choose, and the value of human life is something we assign. Everything begins and ends with ME in our culture.

It is indeed astounding to consider David Reardon's contention in Making Abortion Rare, that nearly 80% of the public will now admit that abortion is the taking of a human life even though many in this group still believe abortion should be legal. Also astounding: 70% of aborting women believe what they are doing is morally wrong or at least deviant behavior. In other words, a high percentage of people seem to admit that abortion is the taking of a human life while at the same time agreeing that a woman should have the right to choose an abortion. The unseen, vulnerable child is far down the line in making the decision. How often do we hear, "I am personally opposed to abortion, but it would be wrong for me to try to force my personal beliefs on another who felt abortion consistent with her deeply held religious/personal beliefs." How about if I were to say, "I am personally opposed to owning a slave, or beating my wife, or pedophilia, but it would be wrong for me to try to force my personal beliefs on another?!" I would be considered a moral coward and morally corrupt, yet this language is perfectly acceptable when discussing abortion. What it amounts to is saying that one has a moral right to do a moral wrong. Our "moral" decision about abortion has become more like a decision about cosmetic surgery, or drinking alcohol. "I am personally opposed to cosmetic surgery, but I would not impose my views upon one who differs" is OK for cosmetic surgery, but totally deficient regarding abortion.

If Christians are to make headway in correcting this disjointed thinking, we must make people aware that the unborn child is a human being just like themselves. We had a high school group meeting here last Thursday, and we talked about this moral crisis. I asked them where they would be if the nine months which they spent in their mothers' womb was taken away. Well of course, those nine months are as integral and important to our existence as any other time in our life. We would not exist without them. To somehow separate that from life is wrong. Yet people have fixed in their minds such a radical devotion to the individual and her rights that they are prohibited from seeing abortion as a serious moral matter. All energy is focused on the woman and her "dilemma" (a dilemma which, by the way, many wish they could experience, being pregnant), no energy focused on the also very real dilemma and absolute helplessness of the unborn child.

How do we get a hearing for a sanctity of life position in a pro-choice culture? How do we deal with those seemingly many people who can agree that the unborn is a living human baby and at the same time shrug off the conclusion that it should not be killed?

There is really only one answer, Jesus Christ and His Body the Church.there is really only one message, and that is for men to repent. Men must be dethroned and Christ must be enthroned upon the hearts and minds of individual men and women. All other strategies must remain secondary to this. If morality begins and ends with the wishes and perspective of the individual, the unborn child does not have a chance. The unborn will continue to be killed according to the whim and convenience of those with the power to decide, for the child cannot decide for himself. However, when Christ is enthroned and when lips confess that He is Lord, there is a power shift. The helpless, unwanted, the orphan and widow begin to have a fighting chance. According to St. James, "True religion" is protecting the most vulnerable members of society. The power shifts to Christ as Lord who speaks for the unwanted.

It is well known that during the early years of the Church, Roman citizens would leave their unwanted babies under bridges for the wolves to eat. The Christians would purposely visit these bridges in order to adopt these unwanted children and raise them as Christians.What makes you want to do that? What makes you want to take up that burden? You've got enough troubles of your own, don't you? It is Christianity and its morality! Its sense of right and wrong which goes beyond our own needs and convenience, and demands that we do what is right regardless of the consequences. It is a power shift to Christ as Lord. These Romans we are speaking of were all living in the same world, but one group began to hear a different message. Maybe both groups heard the message, but only one believed it! The message was the Gospel. The Good News that men's sins were forgiven, and a new life in Jesus Christ was there for those willing to follow Him. They were to love the Lord their God with everything they had, and they were to love their neighbors as themselves. Their world immediately became crowded with people and with responsibility to these people and to this Lord. At first glance this new worldview gave fewer pleasures, and added greater burdens. The only reason anyone would ever choose it was because the grace of God was working in their hearts. Brethren, herein is the ground for our hope, for our faith tells us that God is at work among us. Our Epiphany celebrations especially remind us of this fact. Regarding Rome, we know that multitudes chose to follow Christ. Rome fell and Christianity flourished, something no one could believe would happen.

Christ Himself has planted us in this mission field called the USA. We are not alone. He is with us. Today's Epistle contains a wonderful admonition for us, as we consider the horror of abortion and how we are to respond to it: Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is what it means to be a Christian, and it is the way of God to make good come from the evil that men do. Following Christ is not easy work, but it is glorious work. By His grace may we never look back, by His grace may hearts continue to be changed, and by His grace may we see good come from this great evil of our day. Amen.