PPL ENEWS - Dec. 2020 - The Gift of Life! and Winter Words of Hope

PPL ENEWS

Advent Many years before Christ's birth, Isaiah wrote these words as though they were already accomplished:   "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."   During the Advent season, we await the wonder of a babe already come.

THE GIFT OF LIFE! by PPL Board Member Martha E. Leatherman, M.D.

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:13-14   As we approach the Christmas season and reflect on the wonderful gift we have in Christ our Savior, I am reminded of another great gift that God has given us: the gift of life. He made us in His image and blew His breath into our being. He supports, maintains, and sustains our souls and our bodies. We can’t ever repay this gift, but we don’t have to cheapen it with our fear.

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Winter Words of Hope from PPL's Archives

Winter 2005 "I'd like to think lots of us in the church--Christ's body--would stand by a young woman making a courageous decision to protect the life of her unborn child. It probably would require some inconvenience for us. But we could help her win her own private war." --Terry Schlossberg, Executive Director 1986-2005 "Take courage, for I have overcome the world."  --Jesus, in John 16:33b

Winter 2006 "God chose to identify with mankind as an embryo, in the womb, before his birth. He did not arrive as a baby in a manger; he came as a baby in the womb!"" --Marie Bowen, Executive Director 2005-2017 "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."  --Psalm 139:13-14

Winter 2007 "Thinking about gift cards prompted me to question the way we value persons--sometimes not seeing the "value-added." Sometimes we need to go to the Origin of Life and "scan" that person in the light of Scripture to realize their worth. . . .Granted it is hard to see "value-added" in a microscopic blastocyst. But Scripture is plain that God has purposes for our lives from before birth. It is time to submit the unborn to the "scan" of Scripture and find Christ's "value-added" that makes each gift of life inexpressibly precious." --Marie Bowen, Executive Director 2005-2017 "Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."  --Isaiah 49:16  NAS

Winter 2008 "Every human life is the handiwork of God. The child in the womb, grandma in the care center, and Uncle Ralph with Alzheimer's all have God-given value that transcends our person-centered perceptions." --The Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb, Lutherans for Life "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you."  --Isaiah 42:6a

December 2011 "He came to the womb of Mary so that we might know that he sees and knows us and we are precious to him in all the most fragile and dependent moments of our lives--even before others see us or know us. He was laid in a manger so that we would understand what is important and what is not, that we might escape the idolatry of material things, power, and influence and follow him in wholeness and humility." --Marie Bowen, Executive Director 2005-2017 "For God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."  --John 3:16

December 2013 "I like to think of Elizabeth coming to the door, perhaps wiping her hands on her apron, when suddenly her unborn baby leaped in her womb--not a slight shifting in the womb, ot a little kick, but a joyful jump! Why? Because unborn John knew he was in the presence of another unborn child the little Christchild, as yet no more than a zygote (to use a medical definition.)" --The Rev. John Sheldon, President of PPL "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy."  --Luke 1:42-44

November 2014 "Christians must be people who stop alongside the hopeless and lift them up. In a world that offers little to those who face life-and-death struggles, we must accompany people in the darkness. Our lives must testify to the Light that shines in the darkness, whom the darkness does not overcome" --Aaron Matthew Weldon, Staff Assistant for Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

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