{{first_name|Friend}},
After Saturday’s email, George Z. sent me a video from New Jersey and asked this question:
Could what is happening in New Jersey happen in New Mexico?
When I read George’s message, it made me think about an important question: what happens when we can see where things may be heading, yet still convince ourselves that someone else will do something about it?
That is exactly the danger I have been thinking about.
Major cultural and legal changes do not always happen all at once. Sometimes they happen little by little, one decision, one policy, one new “normal” at a time. We adjust to each step, and before long, something we once would have found shocking barely gets our attention.
It immediately reminded me of something Father Thomas used to teach us.
He used the old boiling frog analogy to explain how sin so often works in our lives. The point was not really about the frog. It was about what happens when the temperature rises so slowly that we hardly notice it.
Father Thomas would explain that sin often enters the same way. Rarely does someone wake up one morning and decide to completely abandon everything they believe. Instead, we tolerate a little more. Then a little more. Something that once bothered our conscience begins to bother us less. We adjust. We justify. We become accustomed to it.
And little by little, we become desensitized.
Before we realize what has happened, we can find ourselves in the middle of something we never imagined we would accept, wondering how we got there.
I have never forgotten that lesson from Father Thomas, because it applies to much more than our individual lives. A culture can become desensitized too.
One change happens. Then another. Something once considered unthinkable becomes controversial. Then tolerated. Then accepted. Eventually, we are told we must celebrate it or even protect it.
And that is why George’s question matters so much:
Could what is happening in New Jersey happen in New Mexico?
It is easy to look at another state and say, That could never happen here.
But I think we need to be very careful with those words.
How many things happening in New Mexico today would have seemed unimaginable only ten years ago?
That does not mean we should live in fear. It means we should pay attention before the temperature rises again.
What concerns me just as much as changing laws is the quiet temptation for good people to believe there is nothing they can do about them.
I am only one person.
Someone else will speak up.
Someone else will go.
Someone else will pray.
But what happens when everyone thinks someone else will do it?
I think about the women we encounter outside abortion facilities. Many are frightened, overwhelmed, and unsure of what to do. Sometimes a woman may be praying for a sign, for someone to tell her there is another way, or simply for some indication that she and her child are not alone.
What if the person quietly praying outside is the answer to that prayer?
What if that one person is you?
This is why I cannot dismiss prayer and presence as something small. As Christians, we know this battle is deeper than politics. Scripture tells us that “our struggle is not with flesh and blood.” The woman entering the facility is not our enemy. The abortion worker is not our enemy. The person who disagrees with us is not our enemy.
But I do believe the enemy would be very pleased if people of faith became convinced that prayer accomplishes nothing, that showing up does not matter, and that someone else will take care of it.
That is a lie we cannot afford to believe.
And that is why I do not believe we can sit back and assume things will somehow get better on their own.
They will not change because we waited.
They change when ordinary people decide to pray, care, speak, serve, and show up.
September 12 is now only days away. You already know why we are gathering. You already have the locations and the details.
What I am asking you today is something much more personal:
Please do not assume someone else will take your place.
Perhaps that is why there is something so fitting about one of our largest gatherings taking place in Las Cruces, the City of the Crosses.
The Cross reminds us that God has never measured faithfulness by numbers.
He asks us to be faithful.
So if you find yourself thinking, I am only one person. What can one person possibly do?
Remember this:
Every movement begins with one person deciding not to leave it to someone else.
On September 12, come pray with us.
Bring your family. Bring a friend. Bring someone who has never stood with us before.
FIND A PUBLIC PRAYER GATHERING NEAR YOU
If your city already has a public prayer location, we hope you'll join others there.
📍 Las Cruces, NM | Abortion Center Build Site
4391 E. Lohman Ave., Las Cruces, NM 88011
📍 Santa Fe, NM | State Capitol Bldg.
490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501
📍 Albuquerque, NM | New Covenant Church
7200 Holly Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113
📍 Albuquerque, NM | Our Lady of Annunciation Church
2621 Vermont NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110
📍 Farmington, NM | The Journey Church
1901 E. Murray Dr, Farmington, NM 87401
📍 Gallup, NM | City Hall
110 West Aztec Avenue, Gallup, NM 87301
📍 Rio Rancho, NM | Saint John Vianny Church
1001 Meteor Ave.Rio Rancho 87144
📍 Clayton, NM | Clayton Methodist Church and Amistad Church
200 N. 5th Ave, Clayton, NM 88415
Don't see your city represented? We would love to help you get one started. Contact us at (915) 455-1344, and we'll help you take the first steps toward adding a public Day of Prayer gathering in your community.
Let people across New Mexico know that people of faith have not become numb, have not become silent, and have not stopped believing in the power of prayer.
Standing with you for Life,
Jessica Sifuentes
President & CEO
Southwest Coalition
