Our current sermon series at Webster Bible Church is "God and Politics." We've hit on some sensitive issues for people all over the political spectrum. Last week I received a note from a college student who wrote, in part, "I'm so glad our church is not beholden to any party, candidate or political ideology, but to Christ." Amen! That's our goal!
Two Sundays ago my associate, Pastor Kaynenn Parker, preached part one of a message on racial reconciliation. He was supposed to preach part two this past Sunday, but he got sick. So I went ahead and preached the next topic on the schedule: The Protection of Life. I began by showing a clear link between the issues of racism and abortion. Yet in the days following my sermon, I realized that I had only scratched the surface. More on that in a moment.
A second thing was pointed out to me by a local pregnancy center representative that I had invited to our church that morning. He said that much more attention needs to be given to the men's side of the abortion issue. He proceeded to tell me about a video produced last year that features the Grammy award winning Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae, theologian John Piper, and international pregnancy-help advocate John Ensor. In this video Lecrae opens up a conversation about the remorse of abortion and healing that comes from the gospel, by sharing a part of his past. John Ensor goes on to state that 45 million abortions worldwide means that 90 million persons are involved (i.e. both women and men), which makes abortion the most commonly shared experience of this generation.
That last statement bears repeating: Abortion is the most commonly shared experience of this generation. Furthermore, it ties directly into the racial issue, which is no trivial matter itself. Says Piper,
I just long for these two issues to just go right together in the preaching of the pastor. I just think it would give incredible authenticity to many churches and many pastors if they got serious about both issues together, rather than choosing, "We'll be an anti-abortion church," or "We'll be an anti-racism church." Let's just be pro-life-wholeness relationally and pro-life-wholeness with our little ones in our wombs.
In the following video, which opens with LeCrae's testimony, you'll see how the issues of racism and abortion converge in a way that most of us have never considered. I urge you to watch this video in its totality (37 minutes). Its message is significant.
Finally, I want to encourage everyone who lives locally to join us this Sunday at Webster Bible Church for part two of Kaynenn Parker's sermon on racial reconciliation. Earlier today both Kaynenn and I remarked how God in his providence, caused my sermon on protecting life to be sandwiched in between his two sermons on racial reconciliation. These issues cannot, and should not, be divided. The only way to continue an honest conversation about either one of them is to talk about both of them.