In a January 13, 1984 proclamation, President Ronald Reagan designated January 22, 1984 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day. The date was chosen to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that first recognized the constitutionally-protected status of abortion in the United States. Twenty-eight years later, we still observe this important day.
Yesterday, we sat in church listening to our pastor talk about life. I suppose he does that every Sunday, but yesterday he was distinctly reintroducing to us the value of a human life. I respected immensely his cautious, careful approach as he waded into this very emotional topic. Though wrapped in the message of National Sanctity of Human Life Day and corresponding directly to the issue of abortion, he was able to broaden the conversation to include all life - not restricting it to the sanctity of those yet unborn.
He opened by positing that it is both fortunate and arresting that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade fall so close on the calendar. On MLK Day, we are reminded of a time in our nation's history when one human life was, without question, considered more valuable than another, based purely on the color of one's skin. We consistently regarded those who looked and acted differently as a nuisance, a problem that needed dealing with. Today, we unanimously consider such a distinction to be unacceptable, if not barbaric. Those who still cling to antiquated notions of racial inequality exist outside societal norms. The distance we have come as a nation in this regard is both laudable and highly hypocritical.
As a society, and more specifically as women living in this society, we are urged to embrace a "freedom" largely characterized by displaying, and even leveraging, our sexuality. We are taught that sex is ours to enjoy whenever and with whom we please. Those who try to curb this behavior are infringing on our rights. But when the consequences of our reckless freedom yield a result that we are unwilling to accept, we are told that we have a choice, that our bodies are our own, and that an inconvenient problem can be dealt with. Rather than acknowledging that the circumstances we face are the result of choices already made, we survey the landscape for an escape.
Perhaps we haven't come as far as we had thought....some lives are still more important than others.
We are blessed to be the children of God. I re-read that sentence and I am gripped by just how far short it falls from describing how treasured we are in God's sight. It is a realization worth taking the time to consider. As my pastor put it, God had the opportunity, and most certainly the motivation, to destroy us when we brought sin into His paradise. And yet...
Wow. Just those two words, "And yet..." - how much potential they hold, how much grace.
And yet we were rescued from certain despair, an eternity apart from God, by the redeeming love of Christ. We were given the breath of life, the freedom from sin through salvation. We were adopted back into His family, into His Kingdom, blameless and pure in His sight. How then can we condemn the lives of others, failing to give the innocent among us the same opportunity to know the joy of being adopted into a loving family? Similarly, how are we to view those "inconvenient people", the nuisances in our lives, as anything but brothers and sisters, worthy and deserving of our love?
When you live and work in New York City, a place brimming with inconvenient people, it is convicting to be reminded of how Jesus lived. Jesus never ran with the "in crowd". He didn't pick and choose who was deserving of His truth based on their social status, their skin color, or their well-groomed appearance. In fact, He gravitated towards those on the margin of society. It was through the "least of these" that His transforming message of love was revealed. And as children of God, we are called to live as He did.
It is a challenge - believe me, I know. All you have to do is step out of the quiet safety of your home and onto the subway to allow your passion for others and your respect for life to disintegrate into thin air. But we are called to love others and to respect life in all of its forms. Imagine the potential if we all chose to hold life in the utmost regard...
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