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I want you to hear the story of Noah, and it’s not the one you think! But first, listen to Noah’s dad tell why he shared this story with Lutherans For Life.
“I share this story with you because my wife and I have such great respect for the value of all life, from the youngest to the oldest, and to those crippled with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities. And we truly appreciate all that Lutherans For Life does to share the truth of a baby born for a baby and of a man stuck to a tree for men and women stuck in hospital beds.”
Noah was born prematurely on December 29th at 9:40 a.m. At 10:40 a.m., this 24-week baby became a child of God through the washing of holy Baptism. He was rushed to a larger hospital with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but news soon came back that he was not expected to make it through the night. As his mother and father drove to the hospital, they prayed that little Noah would make it through just one night so they would have a chance to hold their little boy.
I will let Noah’s father, a Lutheran pastor, continue the story.
“Noah not only made it through one more night, but he made it through two weeks before his little body and underdeveloped organs could no longer handle the strenuous fight. During those two weeks, my wife and I prayed with Noah, read devotions to him daily, even doing the prayer services of the day with him. As his blood pressure decreased and his heart slowed, I read him two final stories from the Bible. The first was of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The final story of Christ that Noah heard as he was called to his heavenly home was the story of baby Jesus being born into this sinful world. As I read the part of the angels rejoicing at Christ’s birth, Noah took his last breath, and the angels rejoiced!”
The Message of Epiphany
The first time I read this I had tears in my eyes, but as I pictured the angels rejoicing at little Noah’s entrance into heaven, a smile also came to my lips. So much sorrow, so much joy seen in the story of Noah. The joy in baby Noah’s story flows from the joy of baby Jesus’ story. Here was a baby “born for a baby,” born for all babies, born for all people.
That is the message of Epiphany, that “making known” portion of the Church year. Jesus, the little baby in a manger, is made known as the Son of God, Savior of all.
The Message of Lutherans For Life
LFL desires to make known the truth of this baby and connect it to the life issues. Our mission is to equip all Lutherans to do the same. He was a baby born for all babies, born and unborn. He was a baby who grew into a man and was “stuck to a tree” to bring forgiveness for men and women stuck in the mire of their sins. He was a baby who assures us of God’s love even when we are “stuck” in difficult situations.
No other message can speak to people dealing with life issues as the message of this baby. No other ministry works as directly with pastors and educators, congregations and schools to equip them to make this connection as does LFL.
But, of course, we cannot continue to do this without your help. And I am so convinced it needs to be done in congregation after congregation and in school after school and with young person after young person, that I do not hesitate to ask for your financial support. We want to be more than just a charity you support. We want to be your partners in changing lives with the message of a baby who does just that. So please pray for LFL and then consider a generous financial gift of $50, $75, $100 or more to help us reach more and more people with this message.
Plans to Share this Message
In his letter to LFL, Noah’s dad wrote, “We truly feel blessed to have Lutherans For Life as part of our ministry here at St. Paul Lutheran Church.” I’m happy to report that LFL moves into 2011 with a new and aggressive strategic plan detailing how we want to share this message and be part of the ministry of more and more congregations. The plan consists of three major initiatives:
Renewal For Life
This initiative focuses on equipping pastors and congregations to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life as they connect the message of the baby born for all people to the life issues. It encourages congregations to establish Life Advocate Teams to help make dealing with the life issues an ongoing part of the congregation’s Gospel ministry. It offers training for team leaders and team members, guidance on establishing a For Life ministry, suggestions for integration into congregational planning, and an entire website dedicated to providing easy-to-use resources, teaching tools, video and audio clips, sermon and worship helps, curricula, and more.
Teaching For Life
This initiative focuses on equipping educators and schools to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life as they connect the message of the baby born for all people to the life issues. Our Teaching For Life Christian day school curriculum is already being used successfully in many Lutheran schools. This integrated curriculum is based on nine key For Life concepts, one for each month of the school year. Our plan calls for expanding this by using these nine concepts to produce Sunday School, confirmation, VBS, youth, and adult curricula. We want the positive, God-given value of human life to be taught at every age level influencing and equipping young and old alike.
Generations For Life
This initiative focuses on equipping the younger generation to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life as they connect the message of the baby born for all people to the life issues. We have an active Generations For Life committee made up of some of our younger board members. They in turn will be working with a Generations For Life Advisory Team made up entirely of young people. We will be working together to develop ways to have more influence upon our young people on high school and university campuses as we equip and encourage them to uphold the truth of the sanctity of human life. We are producing an online training course which will help them build their knowledge and skills and equip them for action. We have a Facebook page and administrator who is constantly engaging the younger generation, learning from them, and reaching out to help them in any way we can.
Working the Plan
Our strategic plan will not just be carried out by paid staff here at the Life Center. We will enlist the help of our many grassroots volunteers in state affiliates and local chapters. We will be looking for volunteers to lead Life Teams in congregations, author aspects of our curricula, and work with the younger generation. We want to be as efficient as possible.
You are part of this plan as well. Regardless of how many dedicated volunteers we get, funding is still greatly needed. As I tell the Life Team here in Nevada, the plan is in place to move into 2011 and equip Lutherans to be Gospel-motivated voices for life as we have never done before. The Team worked very hard on this plan as did our LFL board of directors. We’re excited about it. I invite you to share in that excitement and help us with the funding.
I ask each of you to consider what you are able to do. Gifts of any size are appreciated, whether it is $35, $100, $250, or more! God has a way of multiplying things! So please pray about it and consider a financial gift.
Our Commitment
I can tell you that we are committed to seeing LFL’s strategic plan work as God shapes and directs it. The strategic plan challenges the Life Team here at the Life Center to increase our giving in 2011. Director of Operations, George Munyon, made that challenge official just the other day. He led the team by pledging to increase his support in 2011. My wife RoxAnne and I will also be increasing what we give to help move this plan forward and allow the Lord of Life to be at work through it.
Glory Be to God!
We join the angels who rejoiced at the birth of baby Jesus, the Son of God. We rejoice with the angels at the entrance of baby Noah into heaven and at the entrance of all believers into their heavenly home. Our joy, even in the midst of our tears, comes from a baby, a baby born for a baby, born for all people, born to make a difference in people’s lives. Glory be to God, indeed!
Your servant For Life,
Jim Lamb
P.S. Will you do me a favor? Would you put us on your prayer list? Would you please pray daily for LFL? Put us on your congregation’s prayer list, or your Facebook prayer wall or your e-mail prayer list or any prayer list you can think of! Pray that the mercy, grace, and power of God be with LFL so that we may carry out HIS plan in our strategic plan. Thank you.
