March 25th – A Day to Celebrate the Sanctity of Life

Editor’s Note: Oregon Right to Life is a non-sectarian, single-issue pro-life organization. ORTL welcomes guest contributions from pro-life advocates from many faith backgrounds who wish to share their stories and insights upholding the value of every human life.

By Pastor Alexander J. Lange, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Albany, OR

(Oregon Right to Life) — Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (a.k.a. Life Sunday) was established in 1984 as a way to celebrate the sanctity of life and to grieve the countless lives lost to abortion. Life Sunday falls on the Sunday closest to January 22^nd, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

To be frank, I have never been the biggest fan of Life Sunday. If you follow the liturgical calendar of the Western Church, then Life Sunday feels out of place, an interruption to the Epiphany Season. And now, Roe v. Wade has been overturned. Perhaps now is a good time to find another suitable date to celebrate the sanctity of life?

Actually, there is one date in particular that is a perfect candidate. In fact, it is the most pro-life date on the Church Calendar—March 25^th.

March 25^th is when Christians celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord. Nine months before Christmas, we remember how Gabriel visited the Virgin Mary and we celebrate the conception of our Lord.

This is the appointed Gospel Lesson for the Annunciation:

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38 ESV)

How perfect! On March 25th, we learn that the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin Mary and she conceived. While this was most inconvenient for her, the Blessed Virgin demonstrated incredible faith by accepting this unexpected gift from God. On March 25th, we learn that abortion doesn’t merely break God’s Law, but abortion is actually a denial of the Gospel itself. After all, if you say that the unborn are not human or not persons, then you must deny the humanity or the personhood of the unborn Christ. On March 25^th, we learn that Jesus became an unborn human, indicating that he loves the unborn and he died for them.

In my congregation, we celebrate the Divine Service (i.e., the Mass, Holy Communion) every March 25^th. When I preach, I intentionally use the Annunciation to help my people contemplate abortion in light of the Gospel. Then, we gather an offering and every penny collected goes to our local, life-affirming pregnancy resource center. Then, we pray. We pray specifically for the unborn, for their mothers, for Oregon Right to Life and all pregnancy resource centers, for our laws to be changed, and for hearts and minds to be changed.

It is my dream that every Christian congregation will celebrate the sanctity of life on March 25^th. I dream that every pastor will preach about abortion, that every Christian will pray for the victims of abortion, and that every congregation will collect money for their pregnancy resource centers.

Perhaps your church still celebrates Life Sunday in January. That’s fine. You are free in Christ to do so, and you can never celebrate life too often! Still, I invite you to join me in celebrating the sanctity of life on the day when Christians have traditionally celebrated the conception of the Lord.

May the Lord who dwelled in the Virgin’s womb also dwell in your hearts. Amen.