by Mike Albers, President of Lutherans For Life of Missouri
One task expected of us as called educators was to lead chapel devotions every so often. For one of the chapels I led, I had this on the screen at the beginning:
A _ O _ TION
I stated that today’s chapel would be about this topic. At that point one of my colleagues who had me “figured out” stated, loudly, “Abortion!” (He and I had previously had “life” discussions; he actually came to be a fully committed “Lifer,” rethinking some of the “population” issues he had—and yes, he was a social studies instructor)
At that point, I put up the next screen: aDoPtion. Most of the kids and teachers had a reaction, as they too expected an abortion chapel—again.
Two of my students were adopted and agreed to participate by speaking about their lives. Kristin was the eldest daughter of our pregnancy help center director at the time. She was/is vivacious and did a marvelous job sharing her story in support of adoption. The other student was a daughter of one of our teachers. This family had adopted three children from Asia, plus having a natural child of their own. Ali not only made a great impression, as the kids all knew her, too, but also did a great job supporting life via adoption. The Spirit was very much at work during that chapel time. All I had left to do was close with prayer.
A family of five (now six), the third child being adopted a few years ago, recently adopted another baby, a boy. They had to travel to Arizona to pick him up and bring him home to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. This is a very expensive sacrifice they were willing to make. The dad is a pastor, and his wife is a teacher (both members in the LCMS). They needed much help financially.
They applied to Lifesong and received matching grants. One of these grants was from our own adoption fund, sponsored by Lutherans For Life of Missouri. (Find out more about this fund in the newsletters at the LFL of Missouri website.) They still had to raise money themselves to receive a match for whatever amount they obtained, up to the limit that our board of directors had passed. This is collected through Lifesong (lifesong.org).
Perhaps this is something you can set up through your own Life Team, Life Chapter, State Federation, or congregation. (You can also learn much more about adoption at the Lutheran Adoption Conference coming up in April.)
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).