Text: Psalm 147
According to a study by the Guttenmacher Institute in 2016, about 75% of abortion patients in 2014 were living in poverty. Being poor in this country already makes you an outcast. Even in our own churches it is easy for anyone living in poverty to feel out of place. What if you add to this difficult situation the fact that you have had an abortion? There are women out there who are going through this right now. How could they feel like anything BUT an outcast? They are outcasts and whether they fully realize it yet or not, they are brokenhearted and deeply wounded.
The child that God blessed within them has been destroyed by a system that celebrates the taking of a life as an expression of true freedom. Those who support this destruction tell the woman that there’s nothing to feel guilty about and nothing has been lost. Those who rightly speak against the evil of abortion sometimes forget that the person they are speaking to is a person purchased by the blood of Jesus standing before them, even after the abortion has taken place. God numbers all stars and gives each one their name, even this woman who had a “doctor” end her child’s life. God knows her. That woman needs healing. That woman needs to be lifted up by the One who lifts up the humble and casts the wicked to the ground. God does not delight in us because we aren’t like this woman since we’ve never had an abortion. Rather, He takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love. Jesus died for her. Jesus died for her child. Jesus died for you. His death blesses the children within her. His death has made peace for her and for you. She needs to hear that. We need to hear that. God grant it.
Let us pray: O God, builder of the heavenly Jerusalem, who numbers the stars and calls them all by their names; heal, we pray You, the brokenhearted, gather together the outcasts, and enrich us with Your infinite wisdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
(Stanley Lacey, Sem II)