The Dirty Grays of Compassion

I ran accross this most descriptive phrase while reading an article giving a fresh--and provocative--look at the abortion issue from a evangelical Christian perspective. In a nutshell, the article articulated a prophetic vision for this admitted societal blight. For years, it seems that pro-life ministries have focused on the unborn child, marshalling compelling arguments that the fetus actually is human life. And, I personally think this conclusion is incontrovertible.

This article, on the other hand, focuses on the mother. It asks the compelling question: "What have we really accomplished when we've condemned abortion by demonstrating the humanity of an unborn child?" The article makes the point that while the fetus' humanity is now beyond medial dispute, attitudes really haven't changed.

As I reflected on this conversation, which really is representative of all brokenness in our world, several things came to mind. First, the church need not back away from the startling reality of sin. At it's heart, sin is a self-oriented approach to life that separates us from experiencing the dynamic life of God. This fallen reality needs to be exposed in whatever form it takes. Second, simply exposing sin does not necessarily lead to change. The article said that 1 in 6 abortions are by Christians. Most women, even those who have abortions, don't think it's a good thing. Sounds exactly like Paul's struggle with the reality of sin at work in his own body (Romans 7). Finally, the answer to the abortion question--and other equally complicated ones--is not simple. In the end, however, the body of Christ is to respond to sin in all it's presentations as Jesus did: enter into the dirty grays of compassion. He did this when he "ate with and received sinners" (Luke 15:1-2). He did this when he said to the woman taken in adultery: "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more" (John 8). As we are known to put it: we really are to love the sinner and hate the sin.

BTW, have you ever wondered how to do this? As C.S. Lewis taught, there is one person with whom each of us enters into this dirty gray of compassion every day--the person in the mirror.