Life

 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10: 10).

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body (Psalm 139: 13-16). 

Here’s your riddle of the day:  what do clocks and abortionists have in common, and what do they have to do with our theme of the year, “All things held in Christ?”  Ponder these two statistics.

(1) The small Greek island of Ikaria (pop. 9000) boasts the longest life-span per resident of almost any region on earth.  Researchers have spent time there analyzing why this is so, and two of their conclusions are very striking:  (1) hardly anyone pays attention to clocks on the island, and its residents are rarely rushed; (2) the social ethos on the island is one in which people feel free to drop in on each other unannounced at almost any time; there is a deep sense of community and relational support. 

(2) Abortion rates are very high in our world.  Why?  It’s a complex question, but Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas answers it simply:  in the western world we don’t have time for babies.  Babies are inefficient:  they cry at night, they poop at the worst times, they limit our freedom, they’re just plain inconvenient.  We’re too busy to raise them. 

Now combine these statistics:  an island where clocks are ignored boasts the world’s highest longevity; the western world is too busy to allow babies to be born. 

Is Redeemer pro-life?  If Hauerwas is right (and I think he is), then it’s not clear if we are pro-life at Redeemer.  We may say that we are pro-life, but our lifestyles and the harriedness in our hearts proclaim the deeper message that we have also bowed down at the altar of the western world’s idolatrous adulation of being too busy.  We’re too busy for devotions, too busy for deep conversations, too busy to weep with those who weep, too busy to attend chapel, too busy to truly LIVE the life that Jesus gives.  We don’t live a life in which all things are held together in Christ; instead, we live as if all things are held together by the clock, by deadlines, by to-do lists, by time pressures. 

To the extent that we live this way, we have accommodated to the idolatry that justifies abortion.  You see, the devil’s fundamental strategy with idolatry is that we reject it with our lips while embracing it with our lives.  That strategy gives him a double win:  (1) the Christian community embodies idolatry, and (2) we also embody hypocrisy because our words and our lives don’t match up.  As one who struggles with this, I need this prayer:

“Lord, forgive us as we bow before the throne of the clock, and grant us wisdom and discernment to tear down this idol so that the LIFE that Jesus gives may fill us more and more.  Thank you for those who model that kind of life for us.  Amen.”

P.S. One of the world’s wisest voices concerning abortion issues – Stephanie Gray from the Canadian Center for Bio-ethical Reform – will speak here Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 1:30 in room 220.  See http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/about/staff/5 for more.