Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity … part 7
Responses keep coming in to my request for posts from mothers on pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ...
A reader named Alice sent in this link to a relevant sermon that included this quote from Kester Brewin:
“Only if I am still. Only if I have stopped what I was doing to listen and hold my breath and enter some spiritual apnea and wait. The perception of the new step will come only to those brave enough to stop dancing the old. The realization that we must descend this low peak will come only to those prepared to stop and take stock of their position. We fear that if we stopped for a week, a month, a service, a moment, we might be forgotten, or lose our momentum, weaken our profile, appear ill-thought-out and failing” (46)…“So the truly free, the brave who truly seek God, will always have periods, commas, full stops, punctuation marks, pregnant pauses, breves and semi-breves of silence where those around them are given the freedom to walk; given space to deconstruct structures, to reimagine and rethink. Blue-sky thinking cannot happen while we rush around under thunderclouds of busyness” (Signs of Emergence, 47).
Alice then adds this brief comment ...
Wish my thoughts about birthing God had come to fruition in writing
already, but not yet. Birthing my daughter was such an intense
experience. The pain and suffering was just unbelievable, I couldn't
believe I survived! Remembering what scripture says about birthing
pains in God's unfolding of the new life is a help when those pains
seem unbearable as well.
After the jump - an insightful excerpt from an upcoming book called Simple Obsession by mother of five Jamie Zumwalt. Thanks for sharing this, Jamie ... it helped me get some new perspective on some "pressure" in my life.
0 Comments13 Minutes
Countdown Day 48
If we continue to use the Bible as we did in the past, we render ourselves likely to repeat past atrocities. (19)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
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Rebel Jesus – a Christmas carol
I've been a Jackson Browne fan since college. I opened a chapter of EMC with reflections on a Christmas song by this classic songwriter who says, "I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer from a heathen and a pagan on the side of the rebel Jesus."
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Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity … part 6
My friend Helen wrote ...
It was a great idea of yours to ask women about pregnancy and birth – your question has received a lot of good responses!
For me, the births of my children were times I had to give up control. The processes didn’t go as I’d hoped – each time I ended up having a C section to avoid incurring significant risk to the baby. I had to let go of disappointment over not having ‘normal’ deliveries and appreciate the outcome and big picture, which was: I now had two wonderful healthy children.
If I’d clung to ‘my’ preferred way of delivering them rather than giving up control and having the C sections, I could have seriously jeopardized their health or even their lives. If I’d dwelled on my disappointment about the process not going the way I’d hoped I’d have made myself miserable and missed the joy I could have had with my babies
I think there are parallels with New Christianity – the outcome will be compromised if people try to retain too much control over the process which births it. And they will be unhappy if they focus on the way they wanted things to be rather than letting go, looking at the big picture and outcome and appreciating the awesome new thing which is coming into being.
The idea to invite these reflections actually came from Bob Carlton after he had read an early draft of my upcoming book. Thanks, Bob!
Always-insightful Julie Clawson recently posted this ...
And there's a beautiful insight into the first person to call Jesus "my Lord" here...
Many of you were moved by Laryn and Janel's story yesterday. Laryn sent this link to the sermon mentioned in the post. Highlights are included after the jump ... (Thanks, Laryn.)
0 Comments8 Minutes
Q & R: On liberal and conservative
Here's the Q:
Hey Brian, I just wanted to share with you some of my thoughts about your latest blog (beyond liberal and conservative...). I would have to agree with what the person that wrote you said. It is very difficult for me to think the way I do because I am surrounded by many people who do not share my views, which is fine, but the difficulty comes when I am laughed at for thinking the way I do instead of having an open view towards all ways of thinking. When your views are shunned in a sense, it becomes very easy to become an silent minority instead of a welcomed collective.
So on top of my thoughts about that I also have some questions: How do you (maybe not you specifically, but in general) move past the debate of I'm right and you're wrong when the people involved in that debate are not willing to be open? Why have we become so focused on this person is obviously wrong just because they do not share my views? In my Sociology classes I was taught to look at the entire situation, from every side, and then make a personal decision on the topic, but not force another person to believe what I believe. This becomes hard to do when it is a one-way discussion instead of an open forum.
Now that I'm done with my soap box, I just wanted to say that I appreciate your open dialogue with everyone from different views.
Reply after the jump ...
0 Comments5 Minutes