I wish I didn’t have to write this. News cycles move on, but families don’t. A wife becomes a widow; a child loses a father; friends lose a brother. When a public figure is assassinated, we argue online about policies or parties while a deeper wound throbs beneath the surface: our society has forgotten what a human being is—and whose image we bear.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

The sanctity of life is not a slogan—it’s the starting point of a Christian view of everything. As a pastor, I’m unapologetically pro-life because God is the Author of life. That conviction doesn’t only apply to debates; it applies to neighbors, to enemies, to those we disagree with, to those on life support, and to those not yet born. Every life is a miracle entrusted to our care.

What’s Happening to Us? (A Pastor Reading “A Secular Age”)

During my doctoral work at ILT, I lived in Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. Taylor says most modern people inhabit an “immanent frame”—we live as if there’s nothing beyond the here-and-now. Within that frame, we become “buffered selves,” insulated from transcendence and suspicious of meaning. If there is no heaven above us or judgment beyond us, people slide from mystery to utility. Where dignity fades, violence breathes easier.

Taylor also warns about excarnation—becoming dis-embodied people who live more in ideas and screens than in the worshipping body of Christ. When we reduce persons to pixels and debates, death turns into spectacle and enemies into targets. But the Church is the opposite: an incarnational community where God meets us in Word and Sacrament and re-humanizes our imagination.

Womb to Tomb: A Whole-Life Vision (Honoring Charlie’s Emphasis)

Part of Charlie Kirk’s legacy was his unapologetic defense of the preborn and his insistence that life is sacred from conception to natural death. That larger vision includes moms and dads, foster and adoptive families, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, the addicted, the imprisoned—every person who bears God’s image. “Choose life,” Scripture says (Deuteronomy 30:19). The Church says the same—and then lives it out.

1) The Preborn—and Their Parents

Psalm 139 says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” I believe that includes life in the womb. Being pro-life means more than winning arguments; it means practical pro-love support:

• Material help: diapers, formula, cribs, rides to appointments, rent assistance when a paycheck runs short.
• Relational help: mentoring for young dads, gospel-centered parenting classes, and a church family that shows up.
• Healing help: Jesus’ mercy for post-abortion grief; confidential pastoral care and referrals to experienced counselors.

Bioethics note: Christians can also ask careful questions about IVF, surrogacy, and the commodification of reproduction. Our goal isn’t to shame but to honor every embryo as a nascent neighbor and to seek medical pathways that respect human dignity.

2) Life Outside the Womb: Marriage, Fatherhood, Motherhood & the Daily Holy

Sanctity-of-life means investing in the daily, ordinary holiness of family life. Strong marriages, present fathers, faithful mothers, and intergenerational church family—these are sanctity-of-life issues. When we disciple men to love their wives like Christ loves the Church, when we surround single parents with practical help, when we make our congregations safe and joyful for kids and teens, we are fighting for life.

3) Disability, Mental Health & Addiction

Jesus never hurried past the vulnerable. If every person is an image-bearer, then disability is not a problem to hide but a neighbor to cherish. Mental illness isn’t a moral failure; it’s a place for light, treatment, and pastoral care. Addiction isn’t an identity; it’s a battle in which we refuse to leave people alone.

• Accessibility: make worship, groups, and buildings welcoming to those with mobility, sensory, or cognitive differences.
• Care teams: trained volunteers who check in, pray, and coordinate meals and rides.
• Recovery companions: pair mentors with those in recovery; celebrate milestones as a church family.

If you or someone you love is in immediate emotional distress, dial 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) and let us know how we can walk with you.

4) Elder Care & the Dignity of Dependent Years

The Bible calls gray hair a crown of glory (Proverbs 16:31). Sanctity-of-life means honoring our elders—not sidelining them. As a hospice chaplain, I can tell you: presence gives dignity—reading Scripture when words are failing, singing hymns at a bedside, advocating when a patient feels invisible, bringing Communion when someone is hungry for grace.

• Regular visits to shut-ins and those in care facilities.
• Caregiver respite: a few hours of relief can feel like a miracle.
• End-of-life planning with hope: advance directives, pastoral counsel, prayer.

5) Euthanasia & Physician-Assisted Suicide

In an age that prizes autonomy above all, euthanasia can look “compassionate.” Christian compassion never kills; it cares. We refuse the lie that suffering renders a life unworthy. Instead, we pursue excellent palliative care, robust hospice, pain control, spiritual companionship, and the promise that “even to your old age…I will carry you” (Isaiah 46:4). The cross tells us suffering can be borne with meaning; the resurrection tells us suffering will not have the last word.

6) Public Violence & the Political Square

Political violence is an assault on God’s image. We mourn Charlie’s death; we pray for Erika and their child; we ask the Lord to heal our land and cool our rhetoric. Christians should engage vigorously but without venom, refusing to dehumanize those we oppose. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus says (Matthew 5:9).

7) Technology, Bodies & Commodification

Taylor notes modern “subtraction stories,” where we chip away transcendence until only technique remains. In bioethics, that can mean treating bodies like projects and people like products. Followers of Jesus ask, “Does this honor the image of God?” We pursue medical excellence while rejecting the exploitation of the poor, the buying/selling of reproductive capacities, and experiments that instrumentalize human life.

Counter-Formation: Habits that Re-Humanize

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

Mourning with Hope, Acting with Courage

We mourn; we pray; and in Christ, we act. Let’s be the kind of church where life is celebrated at baby showers and hospital bedsides, at baptismal fonts and gravesides; where reconciliation is normal; where counter-cultural love is expected; where enemies are prayed for and neighbors are served. In a secular age, the Church is called to be stubbornly sacred—to hold out the living Christ and say with our words and our deeds: every life is a gift.

Take Your Next Step With Us

If your heart is heavy, you don’t have to walk alone. We’d be honored to pray with you, listen, and point you to Jesus.

Sunday schedule: Worship 9:00 AM • Coffee & Conversation to follow.