Some reflections on recent events.... Part 1 [Guest Post]

I am doing something a little different here and posting a guest post. My father, who many of you know is a Lutheran pastor, posted his reflections on the recent events in Connecticut and our response to it on his Facebook page. I thought more people might like to read it, so I asked him if I could repost it here. Enjoy! 
-Laura

From Pastor John Davis:
 
The following is the first in a three-part series of thoughts as I reflect on the current events in Connecticut and our collective societal response to them:

Today, at our staff devotion, we prayed earnestly for the people of Connecticut, for families affected, for the community, for pastor

s and counselors, and the like. We also prayed for our own local schools and our nation. And in praying for our nation, we prayed that people would turn to (or turn back to) our God and Father and His Son, Jesus. As people are so severely confronted with evil, the questions of morals and goodness become a point of discussion, and the search to find/go back to strong values seems to be at the forefront. In this void and in this hurt is where we as disciples of Jesus can make such a difference, so long as we are not weakly resigned to the values and morals of an increasingly secular society.

At the conclusion of our devotion time, we sang the hymn, "God of Grace and God of Glory" I share the words of verses 2-4 of this hymn (public domain) with you:

Lo, the hosts of evil round us scorn the Christ, assail His Ways!
From the fears that long have bound us free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us Wisdom, grant us courage for the living of these days.

Cure your children's warring madness; bend our pride to your control;
Shame our wanton selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us Wisdom, grant us courage lest we miss your Kingdom's goal.

Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore;
Let the gift of Your salvation be our glory evermore.
Grant us Wisdom, grant us courage, serving you whom we adore.

I believe these words are a strong challenge for us to rethink the moral foundations upon which our society (or any society) and our lives are built. Individualism, individual rights, self-determination, and the like can be wonderful gifts and in many ways have played a significant role in the growth of our nation. However, there is another side to such a worldview, one which makes no distinction between values and choices, with all being relative and all being of equal worth. (Similarly there are blessings in there being a collective, societal, and group dynamic world view, which also comes with another side to include the suppressing of individual freedoms and rights for the sake of the whole.) This dichotomy seems to generally work until we have a tragedy such as the one in Connecticut. Then, we start to ask questions, and we focus on immediate solutions, whether those solutions be gun control, bringing back school prayer, or any similar kinds of ideas. But such discussions miss the mark.
 

If the observation (as I have heard) is that evil paid a visit in Newtown, then the real question is how do we overcome the evil? Getting rid of guns does not get rid of the evil. Nor does the institutional practice of prayer automatically change the hearts and minds of people. To answer this question, there has to be an objective understanding of evil, and that is the challenge for the new and current worldview we collectively have. When we rationalize, minimize, or politicize away that which we know to be evil, then we eliminate any objective understanding of evil. We effectively say: “what is evil to one is not necessarily evil to another, and who am I to decide.” The result of such thinking is that evil is subjectively defined by the many instead of objectively defined by something (someone) greater than ourselves. While there are many who prefer it this way, the problem is: what if the many have a view different than the few? Does their view automatically make something good or evil? And what if the views change; does that make something suddenly more or less evil?
To a people without God, there is no easy remedy for this dilemma—in fact it actually perpetuates the dilemma. The solution that is often found is limited to the current of the day, but such a solution lacks permanency, conviction, and universality.
 

On the other hand, to a people with God, there is an inherent recognition of that which is objectively good and that which is objectively evil. This recognition is a starting point, but it is not the cure-all we desire. Instead, living this objective truth is a life long journey, which continually refines us and builds upon and nurtures this truth within us. Simply put, we have to live out these truths in a clear and consistent manner for them to be relevant and to be recognized. In fact, when people who believe in God follow the world view of subjective evil, they exacerbate the problem by sending conflicting messages about good and evil/right and wrong to those who don’t know God, which only reinforces their (and the current) world view; all of which leads us to keep asking the very question that we seem to want to avoid: how do we overcome this evil?

Tomorrow, I will share what I firmly believe to be the answer to the above question.

Lutherans For Life- March for Life Scholarships!

Online fundraising for March for Life Scholarships at Razoo

Focusing on blessings, instead of frustrations...

This post won't be super long, but I felt compelled to write this morning for some reason. I woke up and did my daily morning facebook sweep. First thing I saw, it was Friday the 13th. I am not a superstitious person at all, so the date only mildly amused me. Then I remembered that it was National Cow Appreciation Day, where you get free Chick-fil-a when you dress like a cow. That made me very excited. Then I thought a little bit about my day. Even though it is the "unluckiest" day of the year, I felt incredibly blessed. I am at a conference for Lutheran For Life this weekend, so I get to spend my entire day telling people about the incredible gift of Life and about the best way to share this message with youth. That is awesome. Then, I get to see my best friends and dress up like cow in order to get free food. That is less awesome but still pretty cool.

The next thing I saw almost made me forget these blessings for a second. I do not normally post about political things, but I have to say, it was a political ad posted by a college friend that attempted to derail my happy mood this morning. This ad was bashing a candidate by saying he didn't care about the people who couldn't sleep because they were worried about their healthcare. Immediately my mind jumped to "Do you know who else can't sleep? The millions of unborn babies who were murdered because of your candidate's policies!" I was almost tempted to write this on the post. I wanted to ask this person why people ignore the big picture. Why do they forget that while things such as healthcare and the economy are greatly important and need to be discussed, they are only a symptom of a greater problem: a society (and a government) that completely disregards human life unless they deem it valuable enough to care. I wanted to open my hotel window and scream it to the masses. Then I wanted to crawl back into bed and cry a bit.

I was about to start this depressing chain of events when I saw my own previous post on facebook, the one that talked about how blessed I was to talk about Life and dress like a cow and have awesome, amazing friends. I saw that post and I realized that screaming about injustice doesn't solve any problems. Starting pointless political debates on facebook that go absolutely nowhere doesn't solve anything. Focusing on all the people who are clueless and misguided about Life and national priorities really doesn't solve anything either. The only thing that will solve this problem is God and the loving message of His Gospel. I AM blessed that I get to share that message everyday. I am blessed that I get to live out that message with my friends and family and all the people I love. I am blessed to know that no matter what the world might say or do, I have the TRUTH of Jesus Christ and His love for me on my side. So, instead of ranting about what people are wrong about, I am going to go stand at my booth today and tell people how much Jesus loves them and how much Jesus loves Life. Then, I am going to watch them tell their youth this same message. Finally, I am going to watch these youth change the world by loving the world. I think that's a much better plan, don't you? :)

Pictures from "Welcome to the Pro-Life movement in St. Louis"

As promised! Enjoy!

Sidewalk counselors pass out roses, along with information, to women as they drive up to the clinic.
Very effective!

Not as intimidating as the fence in Bryan, but still definitely a barrier to reaching out to these women.

This was one of my attempts at discreetly taking pictures of the encounter.

Definitely one of my favorite sidewalk counseling pictures EVER!

Keep up the great work, Coalition for Life St. Louis!

Welcome to the Pro-life movement in St. Louis....

Its been awhile since I was last motivated to post something on this blog, but my experience yesterday definitely merited some kind of recognition. I think I am going to come out and say it and I hope people don't freak out (too much)....

I almost got arrested yesterday.

Yes, as hard as it is to believe, there was a very real moment yesterday when I was pretty sure I was going to get a close look at the St. Louis police department, and not in a good way. But, let me tell you the complete story and maybe you'll get a better idea of why this merits a blog post.

As soon as I found out I was moving to the St. Louis area, I knew I would need to get connected with the local 40 Days for Life leaders so I could continue counseling women at Planned Parenthood. I was able to get in touch with the local executive director of the Coalition for Life St. Louis. Yesterday, after things had settled down a bit, I headed up to the Central West End Planned Parenthood to meet with the director and pray at the clinic.

Volunteer outside of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood. Photo courtesy of Coalition for Life St. Louis.

When I arrived, I met with Brian, the executive director, and he started to share with me how sidewalk counseling worked at this location and the things that CFL St. Louis was doing to help women in the area. I couldn't help but notice that there were a couple police cars present and a few officers conversing in the parking lot of Planned Parenthood. Brian said that PP had probably called them and that he had noticed an upswing in police presence the last couple of weeks.

Very soon after this, a large St. Louis Metropolitan Police van pulled into the parking lots. You know the kind I'm talking about, the ones they bring in when they are about to arrest a bunch of people.

It looked like this, minus the crime lab part

I must have looked nervous, because Brian looked over at me and said, "It looks like we might be taking a ride in a truck today." I was probably in denial and so I didn't immediately pick up on what he was saying. After asking him to clarify, he replied, "I think we're about to get arrested." I don't remember what my actual response was, but it was somewhere along the lines of, "are you KIDDING me?! Why?!? We're just standing here!" I then threw out, "I don't want to get arrested! That was definitely NOT on my lists of things to do today!" Brian's response was something like, "but wouldn't that make a great story!" Great story, indeed!

After a few tense moments as multiple police officers had a pow-wow in the parking lot, the van pulled away and left. I knew at this point that I was probably ok, but there were still several police officers there, so we still weren't sure what was going on. Eventually, about four or five police officers approached Brian and explained their presence at the clinic that day: we had a sign that violated two city ordinances. As they walked over, Brian asked me to snap a few pictures (hopefully I will be able to post a few of them here soon). As I tried to indiscreetly take a few pictures, Brian was "arrested," released on the streets, and asked to leave the premises. We also had to take the sign down. If you ask me, this response seemed a bit heavy-handed. Among the volunteers that day (about 10-15) half were my grandparents' age and the rest were quietly standing and praying. Did the police really think that many officers were needed to deal with a sign out of ordinance? And since when was a bad sign an arrestable offense? Apparently I have a lot to learn about Missouri law enforcement.

I have been praying in front of an abortion clinic for five years and sidewalk counseling for almost as long, and I have never had a negative experience with law enforcement. The Coaltion for Life in Bryan had a wonderful relationship with the Bryan P.D. and so I guess I was unprepared for encounters with a not-so-friendly environment. I was pretty spoiled in Aggieland. Brian's parting words to me before he left the sidewalk summarized the experience very well... "Welcome to the pro-life movement in St. Louis." Well, all I can say is that I am glad I am here and I can't wait to continue standing for Life with my new friends at the Coalition for Life St. Louis!

For Life (2012)

The Power of Forgiveness- An October Baby Review

I have never written a movie review before, so just bear with me a bit as I make my first attempt. :)

Before reading this, you should watch the trailer to get a little bit of context:

Leaving this movie, my head was full of so many emotions, I had a hard time sorting them all out. I felt joy at the movie's message and conclusion and sorrow at the pain that makes this kind of film necessary in the first place. Most of all I felt thankful for having a loving and merciful God who blesses me beyond belief.

I want to talk a little bit about what this movie got right, what made it special, and why I think everyone who cares about the issue of abortion or who has questions about it should see this movie.

First of all, the film was wonderfully written with a talented and passionate cast. So often when you think of "Christian" films, we picture low budget quality production and actors. This was definitely not the case with October Baby. The writing was great, the production quality impressive, and the cast was incredible. I was truly impressed by how everything was brought together. It was simply a great and entertaining movie. For that reason alone it is worth watching.

Secondly, October Baby was not "preachy." It didn't have any rhetoric or condemning language. Although it was obviously written by those with a passion for Life and with the intent of changing hearts and minds about the abortion issue, the power of this movie is that it simply told a story. It shared the story of issues and struggles that, unfortunately, many men, women, and families have gone through before. It humanized the issue, taking it from one of arguments and political talking points, and putting it into the perspective of the men and women who are affected the deepest by abortion.

Lastly, the film was centered on the idea of forgiveness. I think this is something many struggle with in the pro-life movement. I know that sometimes I have a hard time understanding what motivates a women to make a certain choice or what drives someone to work at an abortion facility. Sometimes my lack of understanding can turns to anger and I find it hard to love others the way I should. This film reminded me that we are all sinners and are all in need of forgiveness. God has been gracious enough to give me a second chance and to forgive me and, in response, I should love and forgive others in the same way, through Christ.

I left October Baby with a renewed sense of purpose and an even stronger passion to work for Life. It's amazing what an impact a simply story can have when it is full of truth, love, and hope. I pray that each of you has an opportunity to see this film and share in this wonderful and inspiring experience.

On a side note, I found the story of the actress who played the main character's birth mother to be especially inspiring. It was a great reminder that God truly works in mysterious ways and leads us to exactly where we need to be. Check it out!