http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/Life%20Chain/index.html
My wife, JoAnne, and I along with another couple from Community Wesleyan, George and Jenny Raterman joined in the Syracuse Life Chain Sunday afternoon. It is an annual public expression of our stand for the sanctity of life. I have not attended for a few years, but this year, I was inspired by my participation in Pray & Act to take part again. As I stood by the road, a lady walked by with a beautiful sign picturing a very young baby in the womb and a Bible verse neatly printed. The verse reminded me of my favorite pro-life verses, “You formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well” (Ps 139:13-14 WEB). Certainly God is actively creating in the life of every individual from conception.
Visible Unity –Cool!
Life Chain is especially notable as a united witness to the Biblical value of respect for the sanctity of human life. The unity is demonstrated visibly in the unity of signs carried. Most of the participants hold the same pre-made signs that say either, “Abortion kills children,” or “Adoption, not abortion.” The current venue is a manifest symbol of unity too. Life chain happens on Route 11 where North Syracuse Baptist and St Rose de Lima Roman Catholic churches are across from each other. Marchers can pick up signs at either location and they met together afterwards at the Catholic church to hear political speakers who are pro-life.
Four major streams of Christendom united in this witness!
I remarked to the lady across the street in front of the St Rose de Lima Church holding the same sign I was how neat it was that the Catholic and Baptist churches cooperated in this event. And the unity that was there was much wider even than that. I represented the Wesleyan/Arminian strain of Protestantism while the Baptists represented the more Calvinist strain. So each side from one of the bigger theological partitions in Protestantism was represented. A few moments later, I walked up the street and spoke to Father McCaffery of the Greek Orthodox Church (Franklin Park) who stopped by to stand in solidarity with this witness to pro-life. He represented another great wing of the Christian church, the Eastern Church. As I reflected on this gathering, I could not remember being a part of another event like it in my life where these four great strands of Christ’s church were visibly praying and working together for one immediate purpose. Certainly, as Jesus promised, hell cannot stand against such a united front.
I pray that Roe vs. Wade is soon over-turned or rendered irrelevant by a ruling that life begins at conception. Our country must stand for the sanctity of life as the Bible does and the Declaration of Independence also does. Eliminating children because they come at an inconvenient time is an affront to their Creator. It is also a major cause of the economic crisis in the Northeast. There would be millions more people needing goods and services if it were not for the crimes of the abortion industry. Law should only be mute on this issue in cases where the life of the mother is in danger. And I understand that cases presenting such a tragic choice are so rare that some obstetricians have testified to never having seen one in their practice.
