Solemn Assemblies (Day 6/40)

Friday. Stepped into church half an hour after the prayer meeting started, and it was FULL. I mouthed the word to the usher who was trying to find me a seat, "Full?" Incredible stuff. When the house of the Lord is packed to the gills not because a well-known speaker is preaching but because a solemn assembly has been called, would God not move?

Yet, tonight, the theme of prayer was a sombre one: abortion. Singapore has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the world, being just one of seven countries permitting elective abortion after 20 weeks (ours is 24 weeks; the other nations are US, Canada, China, Netherlands, North Korea, Vietnam). The issues are not easy: and our laws permit the abortion of a baby at 6 months to provide options to mothers of babies with deformity or abnormality.  Compassion. Love. Grace. Yet, God is also very clear in His word about the sanctity of all human life.  We prayed for mothers and fathers to have a change in heart, to love their own, to feel they have options. And also, for more to rise up to be willing to be a fosterer, to be willing to take care of children not their own.

In the scene in Lord of the Rings, Gandalf confronts a monstrous being that seeks to cross an old bridge with the words "YOU SHALL NOT PASS."

As watchmen over Singapore, will we likewise say to the spirit of abortion, that in our land, "you shall not pass."