Church Is a Midwife, Not an Epidural
"I went back to church thinking it would be an epidural... and the church was like a midwife saying, 'Push.'" - Dr. Brene Brown
Brene Brown is one of the more remarkable speakers and writers to come along in quite a few years. Beginning as a data-driven researcher, she was transformed through her work, very reluctantly, finally realizing the strange and marvelous power of vulnerability. The speech, the Ted Talk, that made her famous on the Internet and is largely responsible for her book becoming a bestseller is at
Brown is no stranger to the church, although her relationship with it has ebbed and flowed over the years. Her criticism of the modern church is that it has become a numbing agent. Religion, she says, has changed from a place of belief in faith and mystery to a place of certainty, of rightness and wrongness, with no middle ground.
So, she says, when her life was at its most chaotic, she returned to church, thinking it would give her quick relief and easy answers, that it would numb her pain, she says, like an epidural. She was disappointed. She says it turns out church was more like a midwife, saying, "Push!" and pledging to stay with her through the pain. She explains this in the video at http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/jesus-wept
Brown speaks of how her research led her to believe that the place of our most painful fear and shame is also the birthplace of love and connection.
The Bible says pretty much the same thing when it speaks of being born of God and knowing God, only it calls the place of greatest fear and shame, the cross.
1 Peter 2:24 says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." In Luke 14:27, Jesus says, "Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."
It's impossible to carry the cross and at the same time ignore our own fear and shame. The cross is both the symbol and presence of the shared dread of being unworthy. The cross is the wounds life puts on us. And you can't heal a wound by ignoring it, or numbing it, or pretending it's not there. You have to accept the pain of your own vulnerability in order to give birth to love and connection.
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7).
Brene Brown's book: "Daring Greatly - How he Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" can be found here:
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