"Hold on to the Word of Life"

Yesterday was a troubling day for America. Many of us weep that the pro-life victory for which we fought and prayed so hard was not reached. Instead, the U.S. swayed and fell for for a leader who may have promised a fix for the economy, but who refuses to fix the deepest injustice in our nation: over 1.2 million unborn Americans murdered each year through legalized abortion.

My dear friend Malori asked a powerful question on her blog last night:

President-Elect Obama, in your acceptance speech you said you stand up for
everyone in America: black and white, male and female, young and old, gay and
straight, disabled and non-disabled. What about the born and unborn?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Perhaps, after last night's election of a black President of the United States, some think Dr. King's dream has been realized. I beg to differ. Perhaps we've learned to stop judging by the color of skin — and I agree with countless others that this lesson is a necessary one — but we've missed the other important half of Dr. King's dream. When will we learn to judge by the content of character?

Despite the sadness, I am buoyed by the undespairing spirit, prayerful hopefulness, and unyielding determination I see — in the blogosphere and in person — on the part of so many of God's people. And today's first reading was by no means a coincidence...

"For God is the one who, for his good purpose,

works in you both to desire and to work.

Do everything without grumbling or questioning,

that you may be blameless and innocent,

children of God without blemish

in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,

among whom you shine like lights in the world,

as you hold on to the word of life,

so that my boast for the day of Christ

may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain."

—1 Philippians 2 (emphasis added)

My goddaughter profoundly pointed out that the Obama victory could be our Lord's way of keeping us on our knees, away from the danger of becoming complacent, and on the path of repentance and conversion. Thus may be brought about actual hope and change — not from President Obama, but from the merciful hand of the real Messiah.

And that, my friends, is change we can believe in.