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Pastor‘s Page #1 "Hope is hearing the melody of the future. Faith is to dance to it." Ruben Alves It's hard to have hope in a world sometimes quite dark and cold. But Christians do, for "nothing is impossible with God". When other places and people disregard people and take the quick fix of divorce or abortion or a wide variety of socital "drugs" to ease the pain (alcohol, money, etc.), the Christian hangs on. In baptism we welcome the stranger among us with hope that God will do something in that life. We meet someone who was Ebenezer Scrooge to us last year with joy and welcome this year becuase we have hope that this year things might be different. Why?...because God changes things. He calls things that are not as though they were. And then they become what He hopes them to be. Therefore we believe every life that is conceived is worth the effort irregardless of any circumstance. Every moment of every life is a redeemable gift. Every child a melody of hope that calls for a dance. Susan Shelly writes in Marriage Partnership: In the fifth month of my pregnancy, our doctor recommended a Level II ultrasound. As I lay on the examining table, Dr. Silver manipulated the ultrsound, measuring the cranium and the femur and viewing the internal organs. We all watched the embryonic motions. "Is everything okay?" Marshall [her husband] asked. Moments later, Dr. Silver announced his observation in a matter-of-fact voice. "We have some problems. The fetus has a malformed heart--the aorta is attached incorrectly. There are missing portions of the cerebellum. A club foot. A cleft palate and perhaps a cleft lip. Possibly spina bifida. This is probably a case of Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18. In either case, it is a condition incompatible with life." Neither Marshall nor I could say anything. So Dr. Silva continued. "It is likely the fetus will spontaneously miscarry. If the child is born, it will not survive long outside the womb. You need to decide if you want to try and carry this pregnancy to term." We both knew what he was asking. My soul was shaken by the news, but I knew clearly what I was to do. "God is the giver of life," I said. "If the only opportunity I have to know this child is in my womb, I don't want to cut that time short. If the only world he is to know is the womb, I want that world to be as safe as I can make it." What faith! None of us are guaranteed any time here on earth besides the present moment. The Christian in such difficult times lives each moment in faith, believing that, "Yes, it does make a difference", and that "Yes, every life has meaning and purpose for those weak ones we care for and those weak ones who teach us how to care." The story above was such a strong example. There are so many little places where people of hope give up and never dance in faith. They never do the things that show the world they believe in a REDEEMING God. Starting this month, as we celebrate Human Life Sunday, may we never lose hope that every life has meaning and every life needs the love of Jesus. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1
Your
brother in Christ,,
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