Who Wants Cupcakes?

It's a normal scene: a kid at school brings in a tray of cupcakes to share with her classmates.  Maybe they're homemade, with rainbow sprinkles falling off onto the tray.  Maybe they're storebought, with the frosting stuck to the top of the plastic box.  She carries them with her backpack and purse into the classroom and sets them on her desk while she puts her bags down.  Once her teacher gives her the go-ahead, she shares the tempting pastries.  Maybe she walks around the room, setting one on each desk.  Maybe she opens the box and waits for her classmates to swoop in and claim their sweet cupcake.

The classmates, of course, wish her a happy birthday and possibly thank her on their way back to their desks.  But then the scene becomes less than normal.

"It's not my birthday," she announces, her voice bold and something very close to flint determination filling her eyes.  She waits for the inevitable question.

The boy three seats back is the one to ask it.  "Well then... whose is it?"  After all, cupcakes at school must mean a birthday.

She clears her throat.  Her mouth is caught between a steely line and a powerful smile.  With a strong, clear voice she proclaims, "Today is October 9, and these cupcakes are in memory of the fifty-three million children who will never have a birthday," she pauses... "because of abortion."

This scene plays out with boys and girls across America every year.  This year will be my first year participating in this event.  This year, October 9 falls on a Sunday, and the Sunday School classes of Mikado Baptist Church are in for a wake-up call.

786,500 abortions were performed on self-proclaimed Christians in 2008.  Countless Christians know little to nothing of abortion and its horrors.  Countless Christians know the terrors of this legal murder, but turn a blind eye and deaf ear to it.  How can we let this continue?  How can we let millions of babies die cruel and preventable and selfish deaths, while we sit in cushioned pews in air-conditioned auditoriums discussing which restaurant to meet at for lunch?  It's time for the church to wake up and face this evil - along with the many others than we allow to eat away the flesh of this nation while we live inside our little bubbles of 'happy Christian lives.'

"Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked." ~ Psalm 82:3-4