 |
|
|
| FEEDBACK: We would love to hear from you to get feedback on how we are doing with communication through the Paraclete. Please take a moment to fill out the Life Advocate Survey. |
|
|
| NEWS: Director of Operations God answered prayers and provided LFL with a Director of Operations right in our own back yard! Mr. Dale Olson joined the Life Team on Valentine’s Day! He is a man who has a Christ-like love for life and a background of forty years of managing staff and projects and finances–the very things we were seeking. Thanks be to God! Please pray for Dale’s transition into the ministry of LFL. |
|
|
|
FORUM: The event calendar will now be updated on a monthly basis with events that the national office will participate in. If you have a local event you would like added to the calendar, email jrichard@lutheransforlife.org for instructions. |
|
|
| Life Team Training through Churches For Life: If your congregation is interested in participating in in-depth, Gospel-centered training, both for Life Advocates, and Life Teams, please contact jrichard@lutheransforlife.org for more information, or visit the Renewal For Life site at Life Advocate Training/Teaching Tools/ Life Team Training. |
|
|
| Sermons/Articles and more: If you or your pastor have a FOR LIFE sermon, Bible study, or article you would like to share, please contact jrichard@lutheransforlife.org. |
|
|
|
Devotional Thoughts by Dr. Lamb
Maybe the sign should read, “Happy Lent – Love, God.” I suppose that’s not perfect either as “happy” and “Lent” do not pair so properly. Nevertheless, you see my point. A better February day to be tuned into God’s love would be February 22, Ash Wednesday.
We not only receive God’s valentine as an absolutely free gift, it’s okay to re-gift it!
I’m not sure what Harry will get LaVonne for Valentine’s Day. It doesn’t matter. He gives her a true valentine each and every day whether she knows it or him or not. He shares a love and devotion that can only flow from the One who from a dark and bloody cross said to a world that did not know Him, “I love you.” Our world presents us with countless opportunities to make every day a “Valentine’s Day.” Every day we confront the need for a Lenten kind of love. Thank you for sharing that love in so many ways. Thank you for supporting LFL as we strive to make that love the foundation for everything we do. So, happy Valentine’s Day, and have a blessed Lenten season. As I say to our grandchildren, “Jesus loves you and so do I.” |
|
|
|
LFL Statement on the Mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services Lutherans For Life stands firmly with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Roman Catholic Bishops, the Southern Baptist Convention, other Evangelical leaders, and other religious organizations in strongly opposing the recently-promulgated Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rules requiring that religious organizations provide contraception and abortifacients to their employees. The morality of contraception is not the issue. The issue is religious freedom as given by God and secured by the First Amendment to the Constitution. The proposed HHS rules directly infringe free exercise of religion by requiring religious groups to do what many believe God forbids them to do. Not only Roman Catholics, but many others as well, oppose contraception; and many Lutherans oppose on religious grounds any so called “contraceptive” that in reality is an abortifacient in nature and could destroy a developing human being. These religious groups, and the many individuals who support them, should not be compelled to subsidize a practice they believe to be immoral and, in some instances, murder. The Obama Administration’s “compromise,” by which religious organizations’ insurance companies will pay for contraception, is no compromise at all and is totally unacceptable. This is a matter of religious conviction, and that which we must not pay for directly, we must not subsidize indirectly. The Administration’s offer of additional time for compliance reflects a gross misunderstanding of our objection. This is not a matter of time; it is a matter of conscience and obedience to God. We cannot and will not disobey God, neither now nor later. No one is compelled to work for a religious organization. Those who choose to do so are fully aware of the religious nature of the organization. Those who find the compensation package unacceptable are free to work elsewhere. We urge the Obama Administration to repeal these proposed regulations; we urge Congress to enact legislation requiring the repeal of these proposed regulations; and we will join with religious organizations who refuse to follow these regulations if they become law. Like the Hebrew midwives of Exodus 1 who refused to obey the Pharaoh’s command to slay Hebrew babies, as stated in Acts 5:29 and the Augsburg Confession, “We must obey God rather than men.” |
|
|
| The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation by Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb With great joy LFL jotted off a note of thanks to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation when they decided to stop allowing Planned Parenthood to apply for grants. With double the sadness and disappointment, we now must jot off a note of deep regret and disappointment for caving in to pro-abortion politics and changing their minds. “It’s all about helping women, especially poor women” we keep hearing from both Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and Planned Parenthood. I do not doubt the sincerity of those claims. But it is sincerity devoid of reality. Both the Center of Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute tells us that around 40,000 women die of breast cancer each year in the United States. That is a sad statistic and a personal one as many of us knew one or more of those 40,000. In reality, funds from Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to Planned Parenthood tagged for “Breast Screening Only” free up funds to be used for killing only. We neither love nor help women when we rip their children from their wombs and say it is best for them. We do not love or help women when we subject them to something that will increase their risk of breast cancer and change their lives forever. We do not love or help women in poverty by killing their poor children or those we think might become poor. And what of those aborted baby girls who will never have a chance to be women? How loving is that for womanhood? Approximately half of all abortions every year in this country are girl babies. That’s 600,000 “little women.” That’s a sad statistic. We will never get to know any of them. Who will love these “women”? You will and you do! Thank you! Drop a note to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation expressing your disappointment for their lack of love for ALL women. ( ww5.komen.org/Contact.aspx) |
|
|
|
Renewal For Life Resources |
| Lonely Lullaby is a new video available from Lutherans For Life that quietly reminds us of who we are missing due to abortion. The video is available with alternate audio tracks. You can find this on the RFL site under: Resources/Abortion/Audio and Visual/Lonely Lullaby. The video is available with alternate audio tracks.
FOR LIFE Songbook: The For Life Songbook is a collection of 18 pro-life songs suitable for classrooms, congregations, and choirs. Songs include: A Prayer for the Unborn; That They May Have Life; All Life is Precious; Breathe My Name; Celebrate the Life; Creator of All Life; God Knew Your Name; God Loves Life; I Will Not; Forget You; I’m So Wonderfully Made; Jesus Loves ALL People of the World; Life is a Gift from God; Life is Ours; Life Song; Lord of Life; Rejoice, You’re a Child of the King!;We Choose Life; You’re Something Special. Note: The For Life Songbook is a special order item and a project of LFL of Michigan. The For Life Songbook is available for a donation of any size. To order, and to find out more, please call 586.949.9261 or e-mail lflmi@comcast.net. Fatherhood verses: Lutherans For Life has compiled a list of verses touching on Fatherhood: Resources/Family Living/Articles and Essays. The Annunciation: The path to the cross did not begin in Bethlehem but in Nazareth! March 25 is the most appropriate time to celebrate the Incarnation. God became man at Jesus’ conception in Mary. Since our beginnings were sinful (Psalm 51:5), Jesus had to take our place from that very moment. Part of the redemptive process was for Jesus to pass through all stages of our development. What powerful implications for the value of human life from the very beginning! Jesus’ divinity and humanity at the moment of conception attest to our humanity from that moment. Resources available through Lutherans For Life include:
|
|
|
|
Other resource:
|
|
|
|
Life Quotes and Life Thoughts can also be found on the Home page in the Renewal For Life library.
|
|
|
|
To receive the latest and most up-to-date information on the life issues, visit the LFL Life Blog. The link can also be found on the main page of the RFL site. |
|
|
| FORUM Prayer Wall: Do you have a special prayer request? You can post your requests in the FORUM by clicking on the group you are involved in (pastors or Life Advocates). Then click “Add Prayer” on the right-hand side of the page. You can add your own prayer request or encourage others with a verse or prayer thought. |
|
|
|
Past issues of the Paraclete can be found on the RFL site in the Life Advocate Training section. |
|
|
|
RFL Team:
Jerilyn Richard Director of Renewal For Life®
Kim Nessa Renewal For Life® Administrative Assistant |
|
|
 |
