Pro-Life..Political Stance or Christian Conviction?

It's the silly season again. Election time. Negative ads. Sloganeering. Sound bites. Single issue voters. Fundraisers. Push-Pull polls. Pontificating pundits. Charges and counter charges. Yard signs. Position papers. Information glut. Misinformation glut. Fried brains.
One perennial issue, common to most elections, looms large again this year (at least in some sectors of the electorate.) Pro-life vs Pro-Choice.
I don't propose to elaborate on the relative merits of either position. Let's just say that I see some justification for both.
Me? I think I can say that I fall into the Pro-life camp. Now, this does not necessarily mean I am anti-abortion per se. I have been thinking about whether it is possible to be anti-abortion but not pro-life. I believe that it is possible, if one takes a pro-life political stance. In politics, stand alone issues abound, and this is just one of many. It is not really inconsistent to be politically opposed to abortion and support capital punishment and preemptive war. Politically, these are separate issues.
But, if one is pro-life from a Christian perspective, pro-life cannot be broken down into its respective parts. Life is more than a few cells inside a mother's womb or a full-term infant in the birth canal. Life in all its fullness is not merely a biological state of being. Life is the second greatest gift of our Creator, and from what I read in scripture, it is much more than biology. We were called to be stewards of this gift; to tend it, to protect it, to nurture it.
So a Christian is called to live a pro-life life. What does this life look like? What does it entail?
Good question. They way I see it, a Christian pro-lifer would work to eliminate the need for abortion;work to alleviate the situations which force women to make this choice. He/she would work to prevent state sanctioned killing and preemptive war. He/she would insist on quality pre- and post-natal care for mothers and their children. He/she would work to see that everyone had sufficient (and good) food to eat. He/she would help provide the means to provide clean water to those without. He/she would oppose policies that valued money over people. He/she would insist on quality education for all children. The list goes on and on. Are there any limits to this? I don't know. I haven't been able to find where the pro-life life stops.

In Harm's Way

We hear a lot these days about our troops defending our freedoms or protecting us from terrorism. In churches we pray for those "in harm's way." We argue about Iraq being a just war, an imperialist war, a war for oil, a war for freedom, a war to expand democracy, and so forth.
All this is fine, noble and intellectually stimulating. But all this talk covers up the true reality of military action. The raw truth is that we have sent our young men and women to kill, and to kill in our name. War is killing. It is not some abstract concept to be discussed dispassionately (or passionately for that matter). I pray that in the future, when we are considering military action, we first discuss whether the cause is worth asking our soldiers to kill or to be killed. This is the major question.

CAUGHT IN A BLUE'S BROTHERS TIME WARP

The other day I read a report of a speech by Sarah Palin in a church where she said, in effect, that the US invasion of Iraq was a mission for God. I wonder if she was wearing a black fedora and sunglasses when she said it. Then I got to wondering about what god was she talking about. Mars? Mithra? Zeus? Thor? Odin? The God of the Cross? The stern, exclusive god of the authoritarian right? The 'whatever' god of the secular left? Very confusing, that. And then, I got angry. What a surprise, eh?Now, as a Lutheran (not!), I know that Martin L. taught that we should be loyal to the prince (president) because he was appointed by God to rule over us. At least that is the general understanding of his position. But, the real question is, should we be blindly obedient? Should we ignore scripture (in context)? Should we ignore what God's will is for His creation...shalom? Should we, as followers of Jesus, validate everything the State does in our (His) name? Well, as a contrarian, I think not. Making war, for example. Is it right to make war in god's name on the barest pretext of self-defense? I guess it is if you stick to the OT & pick things out of context AND identify the State with Israel. But, what if you identify yourself as a citizen of God's kingdom and a recipient/bearer of His grace & mercy? Kind of puts a different light on things, doesn't it?Now to my rant.One of the ceremonies of validation that most churches engage in is Memorial day. I know I'm stepping on hallowed ground here, but I'm not one to shy away from controversy. In, and of itself, remembering those who died in service to their country is not a bad thing. It's how it's done that gets my dander up. It is so sanitary, so romantic, so freakin' unrealistic. We say things comforting like 'they died for their country' or prattle on about 'full measure of devotion.' But we deceive ourselves. Having 'been there, done that, got the T-shirt, belt buckle & ball cap' I have an entirely different image. I see a 1 year old baby with a chunk of steel in its head, a beautiful little girl whose body is covered with scars from burns and who has no legs, people so hungry that they sift through half burned feces to find undigested food, bodies rotting in the sun, a woman (an 'enemy') shot in the spleen whose blood drained into her chest cavity looking like she's 9 months pregnant. That's what I see..and I can tell you, that is the reality of war. I think of the time that a command detonated mine killed 2 young Americans, the same mine I had driven over shortly before. What is so sanitary, so romantic about that. I never met one soldier who's goal was to 'lay down his life for his country.' If I had, I'd sure have stayed away from him. I want to make this clear..soldier's lives are not 'laid down.' They are ripped from them in very horrifying ways. War is not a movie or a 19th century Currier & Ives lithograph. It is ugly. It has sights and sounds and smells that will stay with you for a lifetime. Now, is there a Christian message in Memorial day? Yes, I believe so. In war, men will put their lives in jeopardy for the buddies, their squat, their platoon, their team. They will, if necessary, die so that their buddies would live. Just as we should lay down our lives for others. Dying to self. Putting other's first.There is a closeness in combat. A love if you will. To this day, more than 35 years later, I feel closer to the men I served with, than to almost any person I know (exceptions being my wife and children). And, this too, is an analogy of Christian commmunity. So, in my humble (yeah, right) opinion, if we insist on continuing to celebrate Memorial Day, let's celebrate it in Christ's Name & not in the State's.