February 26, 2016

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! (Alleluia!)

I know that you’re still observing the season of Lent—so we must whisper our “alleluias.” However, even as we repent, we rejoice. Indeed, we repent because we rejoice. Christ is never unrisen. He cannot be uncrucified. Our sins will not be unforgiven. We repent because guilt and grief and dread and death already possess no power over us—so strong is the promise and hope of heaven even amid sin and the grave. No matter our season, location, or situation, regardless of our emotional state and despite our world’s condition, our Heavenly Father, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3)!

The Good-Friday God abides with us as the Easter Jesus. Every crucifixion will have its resurrection. This is the hope you and I enjoy and proclaim. As the prophet Jeremiah declared, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9). The apostles Peter and John agree: “[W]e cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20 NIV), and St. Paul adds, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16)! Jesus also exclaims: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40).

Would you like to give voice to your joy? Do you want to put your hope in motion? I invite you to consider teaming up with Lutherans For Life. Your special financial gift to Lutherans For Life shouts your hope with ours and shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ with wounded individuals and a confused culture. I eagerly desire for you to join with us in our rewarding mission equipping Lutherans to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life!

Hope Instead of Hate
In fact, “even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:14-16).

In January, I was accompanied by Lutherans who were overflowing with this hope at the 2016 Washington, D.C., March for Life. The organizers invited us to lead the thousands of life-affirmers from the National Mall up Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court. For two hours we sang, confessed, prayed, and recited our hope in words of Christ, the Life of all the living. (The march directors named us their “joyfulest” banner-bearers yet.)

The victory is great because the battle is great. For centuries Christians have sung on Easter:

The Lamb the sheep has ransomed: Christ, who only is sinless,

Reconciling sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended

In that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died,

Reigns immortal!

Sin counters your hope and mine with fear and force. Death pressures us with pain and rage.

  • Was it hope or control that led a Texas grand jury convened for investigating Planned Parenthood’s federal illegalities to indict David Daleiden instead, whose undercover investigations revealed harvesting aborted babies’ tissues and marketing them for experimentation?

  • Was it hope or anxiety that drove NARAL Pro-Choice America to ridicule a cute Super Bowl commercial featuring an unborn baby on ultrasound craving Daddy’s snacks by releasing a statement saying, “Not buying it – that Doritos ad using anti-choice tactic of humanizing fetuses”? (The Creator, of course, humanizes every fetus at conception!)

  • Was it hope or bitterness that possessed a Purdue University art department staffer to smear the school’s Students for Life as “vile, racist idiots who richly deserve all the opprobrium that will be heaped on you,” and to flippantly threaten to assault and violate their female family members?

Satan only knows murder (John 8:44). The devil deals exclusively in slander (Revelation 12:10). He feels how the Son of God, the Word of the Lord, the forgiveness and compassion of the Father Almighty for fallen humankind has him cornered, chained, and conquered (Revelation 20:1-3). Since Jesus Christ has been sacrificed and raised again for you and me and every human being, our enemy can only thrash about in rabid panic attempting to terrify hurting hearts because he envies our glorious hope.

Sometimes it appears that the Evil One has poisoned and paralyzed our world. But Jesus’ resurrection declares and demonstrates that all lands, happenings, and inhabitants belong to the kingdom of Father, Son, and Spirit. Everything and everyone remains subject to His righteousness and love. He uses even the broken to bring about abundant and everlasting life. The victory is His. The people are His. The cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10-11), the thoughts of each heart, and the property of every pocket are fingerprints and footsteps of God Himself, broadcasting Gospel hope. That’s why the gift you provide Lutherans For Life today, whatever the amount, will be appreciated and effective now more than ever!

Easter Keeps Springing Up!
We can’t be present at the opening of the empty tomb. We can’t behold firsthand the reappearing of our Savior on the very first Easter morning—but we don’t need to! We can witness and even take part in His healing grace by the ministry of His Word. As you underwrite and empower Lutherans For Life to announce and enact this life-saving, life-giving message, Easter is still springing up and breaking forth contagious all around us:

  • Eight states in the last six months have eliminated Planned Parenthood subsidies! Surveys also report that even the majority of “pro-choice” respondents are now supporting restrictions on abortions, such as a first-trimester limit and ban on taxpayer funding—because the Gospel resounds that Christ is risen! (“The Surprising New Normal in the Abortion Debate” by Carl A. Anderson, www.nationalreview.com, 1/21/16)

  • Fourteen families involved in the Bamboo Project are adopting children China designated “unadoptable” due to their Down syndrome—because the Gospel resounds that Christ is risen! (“American Families Are Adopting ‘Unadoptable’ Children with Down Syndrome from China” by Micaiah Bilger, www.lifenews.com, 1/14/16)

  • A young husband and father diagnosed with inoperable stage-four glioblastoma (the same cancer as renowned 2014 assisted-suicide victim Brittany Maynard) refused to give up hope, even after doctors gave him only a few months to live and declined to treat him, and he celebrated this past Christmas in remission—because the Gospel resounds that Christ is risen! (“This Marine Has the Same Brain Cancer as Brittany Maynard, But His Response Is Priceless” by Micaiah Bilger, www.lifenews.com, 1/14/16)

  • The founder of a radical feminist group that stages offensive protests supporting abortion around the world repented of her actions: “What I was missing was love (which changed when I became a mother), love that came to me after having reflected a lot on today’s militant feminism,”—because the Gospel resounds that Christ is risen! (“How a Baby Melted the Heart of an Enemy” by Anthony Ozimic, www.nationalrighttolifenews.org, 1/15/16)

  • Twenty-six states considered legislation regarding physician-assisted suicide last year, and 25 of them rejected it, confirming that encouraging or allowing our neighbors to take their own lives, even with a doctor’s prescription, is illegal, immoral, unsafe, and unnecessary—because the Gospel resounds that Christ is risen!

Our message of hope is changing minds! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is changing hearts! The grace of God that creates, redeems, and calls every human being as a sacred blessing in every state and every stage is changing lives! I’m excited for you to get involved front-row in this powerful hope, and a gift to Lutherans For Life is a unique opportunity! Our Lord is working His wonders of redemption and resurrection through us across the country and right before our eyes: 

  • A Life Chapter in Minnesota has persuaded the local (non-religious!) newspaper to publish our weekly Life Quotes!

  • Our staff and volunteer members will attend this year as exhibitors or presenters at dozens of pastors’ conferences, church-wide conventions, seminaries, day schools, regional mission workshops, and the triennial LCMS National Youth Gathering (expected attendance of 25,000)!

  • Students at a Lutheran elementary school in Michigan hosted and led their own peaceful prayer vigil at an abortion facility!

  • Word of Hope, Lutherans For Life’s 24-hour, confidential, post-abortion, healing hotline, is sharing Gospel compassion and forgiveness with an election-year increase of hurting callers, supporting their recovery from the “twice-woundedness” of abortion following sexual assault!

  • New resources are constantly rolling out, including Biblical Biology; Life Issues and the Pew; Questions and Answers Concerning the End of Life; The Soul Wound of Abortion; Three Inches, Two Ounces – Reflections on Jesus in the Womb; and more at www.lutheransforlife.org/store!

In addition to your gift, there are handfuls of ways for you to include yourself in Lutherans For Life and our ministry of Easter hope—from making use of our Life Sunday materials in your congregation to our Life Team activities in your area to perusing and passing on our journal, LifeDate.

It is my joyful privilege to serve you and to serve with you. I look forward to much more of the same.

On behalf of all the souls your gift and efforts help us speak to, and in the name of our crucified, resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your fellowship and encouragement!