A Reflection on Reaction and Response in the Recent Abortion Protests

Protesters recently spray painted the Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Boulder, CO in light of the leak of the Justice Alito’s opinion draft on Roe vs. Wade

Lord of all power and might, author and giver of all good things, graft into our hearts the love of Your name and nourish us with all goodness that we may love and serve our neighbor; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

You may have read or heard about leak of the Supreme Court Justice Alito’s preliminary draft on reversing Roe vs. Wade.  From today’s Federalist articles, these two quotes capture the spiritually sick angst of those who are pro-abortion and their reaction to this draft:

“…the liberal writer Thomas Chatterton Williams recently tweeted that it is “Hard to imagine anything more dystopian than being forced to give birth.””.

And this one:

“Here’s my feeling about the leaker. I would like to find out who the leaker is, so I could make sweet love to that person, because that person is a hero to me. Okay?” she said on MSNBC’s “Ayman,” hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin.

“And if the leaker — a lot of people are saying it could be a conservative — if the leaker is a Republican, and if I get pregnant during our lovemaking, I will joyfully abort our fetus, and let them know,” she continued.

The quotes are just the tip of the iceberg as to the pro-death response to this preliminary draft, as many have taken to protest in front of some of the justice’s homes…and as we saw in the “summer of love”, 2021, those protests turned destructive and violent, violence looms with  all these new wave of reactions.

If you are shocked, then that means you are alive and truly woke to life as God has made us and redeemed us. And the truly woke life in Christ, as He is the Good Shepherd and the Father,  “… wakened from death the Shepherd” of His sheep has awoken us to the meaning of life and eternal life.  The Collect of the Day for the 4^th  Sunday of Easter continues, and so, “… grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us each by name and follow where He leads”.  We must follow His lead and His Way is a hard way.  Personally, when I read those dismal and sad quotes, I want to knock some heads in real time or in the surreal time of the internet.  This is not serving our neighbor as our God-given goal is to save life and lives.  Vengeance and anger is not the way of Christ our Good Shepherd as we must Him, and not follow our leads from our  hearts which are prone to anger. 

We are first to pray, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:  “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt. 5: 44).  You see what I mean:  His Way is the hard and narrow way. Vengeance, even vengeful feelings, only leads to more vengeance and hatred.

Second, “¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” (Eph. 5).  A.  We do not participate in any works of darkness and we know what those are from the Lord’s Ten Commandments. B. We are to expose them…which will expose us to ire and even retribution.  But if we are not trained by the Lord to pray and be at peace in His peace, we risk again vengeance and hatred.

Again, the Way of Christ, the way of the cross, the way of life is hard.  We may be responding to people with “seared consciences” 1 Timothy 4:2.  In such a confrontation, and their response could be vile. It may be the best we can do is invite them to Church and let the chips fall where they may! It won’t do to engage in an argument, an endless Facebook ‘discussion’ and the like.

Third, in exposing the “unfruitful works of darkness”, we must expose them so that other fellow Christians in our Congregations may know and pray.  Maybe you and I won’t be the ones to lead our brothers and sisters into or in the fray, but someone may be called by the Lord to do so in Christ with others in His paths of righteousness. And so I posted these quotes with these reflections.

Psalm 25

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
² O my God, in you I trust;
    let me not be put to shame;
    let not my enemies exult over me.
³ Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
    they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

⁴ Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.

⁶ Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
    for they have been from of old.
⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
    according to your steadfast love remember me,
    for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in what is right,
    and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.