LCC to mark Sanctity of Life Sunday

CANADA – This coming Sunday (January 20, 2013) marks Lutheran Church–Canada’s (LCC) annual “Sanctity of Life Sunday.” LCC encourages its members and congregations to remember the day, and to pray for those affected by life issues like abortion and euthanasia.

The following prayer has been released as a help for congregations wishing to remember the day in their prayers during worship.

Dear Father,

We thank you for having made each human being in Your image. You love all people, and because You love all people, we know that each life is precious in Your sight. Rise and defend the lives of the vulnerable: the unborn, the elderly, the sick. Turn the hearts of those who would practice abortion and euthanasia. Comfort those who have lost loved ones to such sins, and forgive those who have committed them. You tell your people in Scripture: “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die” (Proverbs 31:8 NKJV). Help us, O Lord, to be a voice for the voiceless and to defend the sanctity of life in our land.

Amen.

2012 was a significant year for life-issues in Canada. Parliament considered Motion 312, which called for a review of legislation regarding when a child becomes a human being. Currently under Canadian law, a child gains legal rights only after being fully born. The motion was defeated with 91 votes in favour, 203 against. In the same year, the Supreme Court of British Columbia struck down legislation forbidding physician-assisted suicide. However, the Court instituted a one-year moratorium before its decision would take effect. The Federal Government is currently appealing the ruling.

LCC adopted a resolution in 2011 establishing Sanctity of Life Sunday to be recognized on the third Sunday of every January. The resolution noted that “Lutheran Church–Canada has since its founding repeatedly expressed the biblical truth that life is sacred, a gift from God.” It encouraged pastors, congregations, deacons, and lay leaders of LCC to “make use of appropriate materials available from Lutherans for Life to education and inform the people of Lutheran Church–Canada about life issues” that they might “give a clear witness to the world regarding the sanctity of life.”

Information and resources on life issues are available from Lutherans for Life–Canada and their American counterpart Lutherans for Life. The Canadian Lutheran also featured an article last year on abortion, stressing the dual need to protect the unborn and offer forgiveness to those who have committed the sin in the past.

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