The Planned Parenthood premises occupies a sizeable corner location on the block. We started to walk around the block - praying together aloud, pitched at normal conversational level.
Then Hannah suggested that we read Joshua 6: 1-27 on the siege and fall of Jericho:
Now Jericho was shut up inside and out..... And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once.....On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow trumpets......then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat".
She sourced it on her smart phone and I listened and meditated on it as she read. In our minds, Jericho became the abortion mill before us. We likened our rounds of the block to the marching around Jericho and earnestly willed and implored God that the abortion mill, too, would fall as Jericho once had done, and be claimed for HIM.
This and our preceding prayers really raised us up! After our three rounds of the block, my spirits were high, almost buoyant. I was joyful, despite the grim reality before us.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me...." (Psalm 23:4).
After a few rounds, we chose and assumed our respective stations on the sidewalk and continued to walk - this time up and down past the P.P. door - and pray, while scanning the sidewalk for approaching women. The initial prayers - a sort of spiritual arming - really set us up for our morning at the abortuary. This was unsurprising given the power of both public prayer and witness, and praying together -
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20).
This joy spurred me on, praying, reciting any lines I remember from psalms and singing quitely, as I am a very bad singer and for this reason, I never developed much of a repertoire of songs, or hymns!!....
Photo: Myself, Claire outside Planned Parenthood on Bleecker St.
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