forgiveness

Gagged

One day, they just stopped
playing it.
Then they took it off the shelves.
I found it forty years later,
in a bin
in the back
of a used record store.
I play it
in the dark,
very softly,
like cats
feet...
disappearing
in
the
f
o
g

unborn child
spinning the sound
of silence


In 1974 Seals and Crofts recorded the song, Unborn Child. It spoke about abortion. One day the radio stations stopped playing it. When I looked for it in the record store I couldn't find it. It was boycotted, I would say banned. It disappeared overnight and the voices supporting life were silenced.  

My heart has been heavy this week. The news of the abortion bill, passed in New York, and the one introduced in Virginia, took me back to my senior year in high school. It was 1973, the year Roe v Wade became law. I couldn't understand how we as human beings could sanction the taking of human life in the womb. I don't understand it now, especially now. We've come a long way, and in the wrong direction.  

I have been silent all of these years. It is time to speak. I am coming out. I am pro-life. That's all. No lecture. No sermon. Just the Good News. Jesus loves you and so do I.



We are special:

"For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Psalm 139: 13 ESV

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
Jeremiah 1: 4 ESV


We are sinners:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3: 23 NIV


We can be forgiven:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1: 9 NIV

The Gift:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3: 16 NIV

Jesus is the gift. It is up to you, only to open your heart, and believe.

 My Sin Story...

Jesus came into my life when I was very young. I can't remember a time when I did not know him. I was eight years old. My family was on vacation and we were attending church. But this church was a little different than my Lutheran, Jesus loves me, all is well with my soul, church, (not that there's anything wrong with that). The pastor was praying and we all had our heads bowed. The pastor asked if anyone had ever sinned...

Well, yes...

"But I already know Jesus," I thought.

Yes but...

"But they are little sins, surely I'm not that bad..."

Um Hmm...

Then the pastor said that everyone would have their eyes closed, so no one would see if anyone raised their hand.

Well, I started to feel a little bit more comfortable with the idea of admitting that I was a sinner, and God already knew that if I didn't raise my hand I would be telling a lie, so...

My hand shot up like a bat out of, well you know...

What happened next is something that everyone who is, or ever was, a member of a Baptist church is familiar with.

The Great I Gotcha!!

The Pastor, the one who assured me that if I raised my hand everyone would have their eyes closed, neglected to tell me that if I raised my hand, I would also be called up to the front of the church, and everyone would have their eyes very much opened. 

Mom gave me a look...

Dad walked up with me. I remember him telling the pastor that I already knew Jesus, but I got a packet of papers or something, anyway,

as a souvenir...

I tell you this story because it was the first time I remember ever admitting that I was a sinner.

And it felt good.

I think the pastor may have had to admit a little sin (of omission) that day too.

Everyone sins. We can't help ourselves. It's in our DNA.

But the day you meet Jesus, the Son of God, the one who took your sin on his back, so that you could live with him forever. That is a happy day.

A Happy Day Indeed!!


Hopefully,



Susan