The Highs and the Lows

On Saturday our group laid siege at the foremost Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in DC. It's a sobering experience to watch as countless young women file in to murder an unwanted person. Obviously, not every person going in was there for an abortion. But there were clinic escorts that met people with abortion appointments and usher them in as a safety measure. At its peak during the time we were there, there seemed to be young women arriving for appointments about every 5 minutes. It's a big difference going from praying in front of the Supreme Court to praying in front of an abortion clinic. To go from the highest form of law to the lowest form of injustice can be overwhelming. But it's good because it keeps us grounded. It puts a face on this movement. Quite literally. It was heartbreaking to watch these young women (some with their boyfriends, most without) file in. It was even more heartbreaking to watch some of them leave with tears in their eyes. At one point we heard the escorts outside joking with each other about our presence and said, "We're really special! They come here because we do more abortions than anyone else. We're the busiest." I don't mention that out of anger. The statement broke our hearts. We heard a statistic the other day that said that the abortion rate was higher than the birth rate in DC two years ago. Some of our group got to talk with a couple of the escorts later in the afternoon. They seemed so confused but were genuinely looking for truth. They claimed to be athiests, but they kept referring to God as a real person. Apparently, many of the church have told them that they're going to hell and can never be saved or redeemed because of what they're doing. As a result, they basically said that if God can't forgive them, then they're going to go out in style. What has the Church done? We have lashed out in our anger and in our own pitiful self-righteousness. And what has it reaped? Exactly the same. Who are we to say that someone is beyond God's forgiveness? To even suggest that is to completely miss the point of Jesus' sacrifice. We're all sinners and nobody is beyond God's mercy. "God forgive your Church for not representing you. Forgive us for showing anger instead of love. Forgive us for hurting instead of helping."