Reflections on a human experience that’s at once routine and exceptional; both very costly and very good.
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Life & Faith has covered many stories relating to birth over the years – incredible stories of courage and heartbreak, difficult decisions, life and death – but we’ve never done an episode on birth itself: what’s amazing about this process, what’s so hard about it, what makes it so meaningful for so many people.
This year Simon Smart is celebrating a once-every-four-years occasion (yes, he was born on 29 February!) and Natasha Moore is due to head off on maternity leave soon, so Justine Toh joins them for a conversation about birthdays – that is, birth ... days. And midwife Jodie McIver, author of Bringing Forth Life: God’s Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth, offers some insights on the journey to becoming a parent, including how surprisingly frequently pregnancy and birth – in story and as metaphor – feature in the Bible.
“I think the fact that God chooses birth to help us understand deep spiritual realities about his character and work in the world really gives honour to women’s bodies, and to these human experiences as well, as we kind of share in the cost of bringing forth life in our own little way.”
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EXPLORE
Jodie McIver, Bringing Forth Life: God’s Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth
A few other Life & Faith episodes related to birth, touching on disability, loss, infertility, and fostering:
Speak Up, Show Up
Intensive Care
When Life Doesn’t Go to Plan
Home Extension
Life and Faith: Refugees
Life and Faith: Toby Hall
Life and Faith: Brendan Nottle
Life and Faith: Easter, work and rest
Life and Faith: World Poetry Day
Life and Faith: Megan Best
Life and Faith: International Women's Day
Life and Faith: Religion in the Public Square
Life and Faith: Gendercide
Life and Faith: Mindfulness
Life and Faith: Vulnerable Communion
Life and Faith: Violence against women
Life and Faith: Barbara Ferguson
Life and Faith: Judging Others
Life and Faith: The Road trip that changed the world
Life and Faith: Silence
Life and Faith: The wife of Jesus
Life and Faith: The Good Life Part III
Life and Faith: The Good Life Part II
Life and Faith: The Good Life
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