We went Christmas caroling at Planned Parenthood last week.
It was the facility’s surgical abortion day and, as around a dozen women prepared for their abortions, 40 or 50 carolers stood on the sidewalk singing about the birth of Christ.
Sidewalk counselors tried to speak to the women arriving and invite them to the local pregnancy clinic, but most ignored the offers of help and continued into the building.
As I watched the mothers enter, I thought about how each one would leave her dead child’s body behind when she went home in a few hours. The sorrowful verses of the Christmas carols were especially poignant:
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume Breathes of life of gathering gloom Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
We were making our way through the book of carols for the second time, getting ready to wrap up for the morning, when someone whispered to me that the woman who had just driven out of the parking lot had never gotten out of her car. She had pulled in, parked, listened to the carols, and left. On her way out, she spoke to one of the sidewalk counselors and took information about the pregnancy clinic. Her baby was safe inside of her, and she had asked for our prayers before she drove away.
Again, the words we were then singing seemed especially meaningful:
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning; Jesus, to Thee be all glory given; Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
When we finished the song, I announced the good news to the other carolers and we closed with “Joy to the World.”
Christmas caroling is a beautiful way to reach out to mothers scheduled for abortions. As we witnessed last week, sometimes the music and words touch a mother’s heart and she changes her mind.
Christmas caroling is also a way to dignify the lives of the babies who we can’t save, who will never see their first Christmas. We sing to show our love for them.
Would you like to Christmas carol at your local abortion facility? Gather a few friends and bring the good news of Christ’s birth to the darkest place in your community. (You can print a carol booklet from this page on our website.)
Christmas carols will never hold so much meaning for you as after you’ve sung them at an abortion clinic.
