The Church of Reconciliation in Bel Air, MD celebrated The Feast Day of Our Lord the Giver of Life on January 17th, 2010. Fr. Terry Gensemer, director of CEC for Life, preached a pro-life sermon during the morning service. Continuing in the spirit of celebration, the church hosted an interdenominational Youth Rally that evening with guest worship leader Brett Rush. A large group from Holy Trinity CEC church in Stewartstown joined with those from neighboring churches here in Harford County as we praised the Lord together, heard an inspiring message from Fr. Terry, and enjoyed pizza and ping-pong afterward as the young people had a great time making some new friends.
Fr. Terry’s message to the youth was that being pro-life is not that complicated. He asked for a show of hands of all those who knew it was wrong to hurt babies. He said that it is really that simple, “God loves life and He wants us to love life also.” He went on to say that the first step to being used of God to change the world is to believe that you can be used by Him. Fr. Terry informed the youth that each one of them is uniquely gifted for ministry. He invited them to come up front if they were willing to pray for each other, saying that the anointing for prayer comes from the Holy Spirit and that they were indeed anointed to minister to each other.
While the worship continued, some of the teens came up to the front of the church and opened up their hearts for prayer. Others allowed themselves to be used by God as they laid hands on their peers. Brett Rush shared a song which he had written for a young woman in his church who had found herself in an unexpected pregnancy. The song, “Talk To Me” he explained, was written to encourage the pro-life community to become better listeners in order to help those who find themselves in such difficult situations.
Encouraged by the weekend’s events and the compelling words which were shared, members of the Church of Reconciliation will be joining with other CEC members from around the world to carry the pro-life message to the streets of DC as we meet there for the March For Life on Friday, January 22nd.