President Kieschnick's remarks on the 2009 March for Life

The following is an excerpt from President Kieschnick February 2009 Letter to Pastors. You may view the entire letter here.

March for Life 2009

You may have read in other media about the Jan. 22 March for Life in Washington, D.C. The day began for me with worship at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Va., where I was privileged to preach to the assembly of believers who had gathered from numerous states for the occasion. I also was privileged to offer the opening prayer for the pre-march program/rally on the Mall in Washington. (The text of the prayer is online at www.lcms.org?14682.) I was amazed by the number of members of Congress who subsequently appeared on stage also as part of those activities and who spoke to the crowd about life issues--unapologetically, passionately, vigorously, and often biblically.

Among the crowd, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, were members and friends of Lutherans For Life. Many of these wonderful Christian people have gathered in previous years as well to demonstrate their support for the sanctity of life from the moment of conception. From all accounts, they turned out in record numbers this year.

After the pre-march activities, I began the march itself near the front of the parade, along with other pre-march festivity participants. After walking a half hour or so, I waited on the curb for the critical mass of Lutherans For Life marchers to pass by so I could join them. As I waited, I was struck by the variety of age groups represented in the parade. There were children and young people, high-school age and below, and no small contingent of college students—including a group from Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon. There also were older adults, many gathered in congregational groups and led by their pastors, priests, and rabbis.

After quite some time waiting, we began to wonder when the LFL group would reach us. Making contact by cell phone, we discovered that the number of marchers was so great that even after nearly an hour had passed, our LFL group had not taken its first step toward the U.S. Supreme Court building, which marked the end of the march!

It was for me a quite memorable day that focused on a matter of great significance. For more information on the day’s events, see the online Reporter story at www.lcms.org?14703.

My dear brothers in Christ, I evangelically encourage you to write, preach, and teach about what God has to say about His precious gift of life!