Ultrasounds, Truth and Abortion    (January 24, 2010)

SERMON TEXT:  Romans 12:1-3 ("But Be Transformed").  To commemorate the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, we will also be hearing from Richard and Gwenn Quintin about how to pray for foster children and parents and then hearing a hymn sung by our children before they go off to children's worship (CW).  Don't forget that there will be a brief gathering of all parents of CW kids at the very beginning of CW.  Oh, and thank you for everyone's generosity last week at the potluck.  There was food aplenty!

SUNDAY SCHOOL & ADULT CLASS (9:30am):  Winter Session continues!  Not too late to join in.   High School Students continue a class on Presbyterian beliefs.

SUGGESTED FAMILY WORSHIP TEXT:  Proverbs 3

HYMNS:      ~ Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah (Trinity 598)
                      ~ Take My Life and Let it Be (Trinity 585; hendon)

SONGS:       ~ Ancient of Days
                     ~ May the Mind of Christ My Savior
                     ~ Mighty to Save
                     ~ Begone Unbelief

DEVOTIONAL:  Ultrasounds, Truth and Abortion

I have many thoughts percolating around my head these days, but alas, no time today to write on them.   What I do want to mention is how we are honoring Sanctity of Human Life Sunday at Grace Covenant.   We are not focusing on the political dimensions of the abortion debate, though that is at times needed.   Instead, we want to highlight a practical thing we can do to help the needy -- that is unwanted children.  A number of families in our church have engaged in the ministry of foster care and adoption.  This Sunday, we will hear from one of them, the Quintins, and learn how we can better pray for foster children and parents.  And perhaps, in this prayer, God will raise up more families to consider this vital and loving ministry to the "least of these" in our midst.

And since abortion is what we call a "common grace" matter (see the below explanation of how we approach the abortion in our church), I have been fascinated by the way God has raised up common grace technologies to mitigate against the technologies which have allowed abortion to be so widespread.  And one of these technologies is ultrasound.   All it does is allow doctors and mothers to see the truth of what is in the womb.  And no one should try to prevent anyone from seeing what is plainly there before them.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, "Truth can stand by itself. Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. ...Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself ... she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict...."   To demonstrate this, I refer you to an encouraging article in WORLD magazine about how ultrasounds are changing many young Americans minds about abortion.  I would copy it directly below except that WORLD forbids reproduction without permission, and so in an abundance of caution, I am instead emailing it to the email list, which they do allow.  If this works, and you are interested, you may clink on the link and read this article for the next seven days.

In the meantime, pray for the Lord to bless our gathering on Sunday.  See you then!  ~ Pastor H