Birth As Ministry: Birth in the Bible Series

This is the last blog in the Birth in the Bible series!! I am sure there will be more biblical reflections on birth to come in these blogs, but here are my first thoughts on birth, suffering through labor, and submission to that suffering. If you want to read more on those things, check out the two previous blogs!! 

 Now I want to talk about a different side of birth; the doula’s side of things. When I first started as a doula, I doubted myself a lot. I had been in full-time ministry at that point for a few years and I think there were some things I was taught in the church that had me doubting how birth work could be seen as valid “full-time ministry”. But here are some of my reflections since then. 

 Tim Keller’s book On Birth says, “Every kingdom, tribe, tongue and nation has its ritual surrounding giving birth and for a reason. It's a near-mystical event. An event welcoming a person who is not there, but now is.”

 One tangible thing I see in that quote that has affected my engagement with birth ministry is that birth work is a need! Mamas and new/growing families need support in this large transition that they are having in life. It is a physical, emotional, and spiritual need; which my guy Jesus was all about that!! 

 Also, being at someone's birth is an absolute honor and privilege. It is a holy space. The word holy means something so unique and set apart. What else in this life is like the process of birth? It's a powerful space. And it's also one of the most sacred moments of a person's life; a mother welcoming their child into the world. But it's also one of the most vulnerable spaces, again, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. To be invited into that space is an honor and a privilege because it is holy ground. 

 Maybe in your line of work, you doubt your significance. Maybe it’s even outside of work but just in your innate being you doubt your significance. Same girl! In those moments of doubt, we must turn to who the Lord is and what his character is, seeing that He is in us. 

 Continuing from the piece of Romans I have been sharing about in the last two blogs. . . 

 “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” (Romans 26 - 28 MSG)

God is a doula! God is a birth worker! I mean, it's so clear that the Holy Spirit is our advocate in life. Advocacy is such a huge word in the birth world. Advocating for women and walking alongside them in advocating for their bodies and for themselves. As a doula, I have been certified to be able to listen to the groans of a pregnant woman and to know where she is possibly at in labor, what she needs, and how to rally around her appropriately. 

 I think birth workers can exemplify the Lord through being a spiritual help, an emotional help, a physical presence, and a deep grounding presence in birth. Birth work is a way to image God's heart. That women would tangibly experience the presence of Jesus in the midst of their labor. 

 Gloria Furman, in her book Labor With Hope, says “It's easier to press on in parenting when you have like-minded mothers who are with you. Our hope is not merely that our children would be fed, clothed and educated, but our desire is that they would be nourished by God's word, clothed in the righteousness of Christ and taught to fear the Lord.”

 Even after we give birth, we are still in labor. People need people and mamas need people. This is, probably, one of the biggest transitions in their lives! Those transitions are huge, whether it's your first child or second child. All transitions in life can be weighty. As a doula, I get the privilege of being a support in that season of life. And that can look like a lot of different things; education, support, cleaning, etc. But ultimately, I think it’s presence. I think the help a doula gives both in postpartum and hopefully throughout the entirety of their birth work is presence in a time that can be exciting, overwhelming in many ways, debilitating, and lonely. 

 Presence is hearing out their birth experience and their labor story. It’s helping them process it and make sense of it. So, in this way, I think we can all be doulas. I think we can all be friends who are willing to be present in the transition; whatever that transition may be.