Let It Go by Riley O’Brien Powell

I’m reminded that there are times in life when its good to give in, to let go. When sensing the momentum and giving ourselves over to the process is what is most helpful in order for our purpose to be accomplished.

Let’s just jump right in and get up close and personal. I’m Riley, pictured above, in labor. A few weeks ago I gave birth to my fourth child. At home. In my bathtub. Yes, on purpose. Its not that we were just too lazy to get ourselves to the hospital. And its not that we are frivolous about our child’s life. On the contrary, we care quite a lot. No, this was our plan; our well-researched, thoughtful, intentional plan. To guide our creative process through to its final stages with our own hands, in our own way.

See, I love birth. I love the whole process of baby-making, really. From passionate beginning to the bloody end – I love it. But there is something special about the birth process itself. After the better part of a year, this is the culmination of my body’s creative efforts, a crescendo of intensity that brings me to my knees and beyond. As much as I prepare in such a way as to feel pressure but not pain by learning about the birth process and practicing deep relaxation and breathing techniques, there is ultimately only so much I can control. We prepare what we can, and then we hope for the best.

When I asked my midwife what the secret to a wonderful natural birth was, surprisingly she didn’t say that it was trying hard, having good birthing hips or being strong – as much as these things have their place. The secret was inletting go. It was in the letting go, the releasing, and giving in to the birthing process, that beautiful births happened. There is nothing that can stop the birth train once its rolling. This particular process, it turns out, tends to go best when we let go and trust the momentum of birth, trust the the body, and trust God.

In my experience, a beautiful birth is not without effort. At a certain point in the pregnancy I begin to train my mind and body for birth like its an Olympic sport. And then one day it begins…some moments are intense, like steering a train stuck in fast forward. Other moments are deeply spiritual, even cathartic. Each time I feel awe for the creative powers in my body that I don’t fully understand. And each time there is a tipping point when the momentum of birth takes on a life of its own. And this is the time to let go, to trust the momentum of birth, trust the body, and trust God.  

The image of childbirth has long been used to help us understand life lessons and spiritual concepts. The image is used all over the Bible. And for good reason. We can all relate to the power of the image of new creation; of something new and beautiful coming out of the old, like Israel and the Church in the New Testament and the first century. Israel endured an increase in her pains in childbirth. Perhaps it was because she didn’t want to let go and trust the momentum of the new thing birthing out of her. So, as is so often the case, through pains she bore something new, the new Israel of God, New Covenant spiritual children.

As I see it on a covenantal level, this is the meaning of God’s message to Eve in the Garden. It had nothing to do with an individual woman’s physical labor pains (as an aside, 40,000 women each year do not experience pain in childbirth and some cultures do not have the expectation of pain the way we do in America today). Rather it was a theological message that provides a relevant reminder for our churches today. It was God foreshadowing the pains of Israel in birthing her new Church baby. Something was coming that would have to be “let go” of in order for it to take on a life of its own. Would Israel trust the momentum of the New Creation process? Some would. Some did. And new life flourished.

How could something that requires so much cumulative effort ultimately be attained by giving up, giving in, letting go? Because letting go of control doesn’t mean letting go of caring. Have you ever been accused of “caring too much” or “trying too hard”? I have. I try too hard at a lot of things. And its probably because I care so much. Sometimes the flourishing of the things we care so much about means releasing certain aspects of control. It means letting go of the ways we have done things, or thought about things in the past, and opening to the new.

We who are in the process of creating new communities of people following God in the way of Jesus care a lot to see our fresh expressions of spiritual life flourish. We care to see safe places of freedom, growth, creativity, worship and spiritual depth spring to life. So we are creatively and continuously birthing the Church into New Being. And we are doing it with our own hands, and our own ideas, in our own ways. It might look different than the way people have done things in the past. It might even seem irreverent at times. Maybe things we do, like sitting around church on couches and tattered chairs, makes it look like we don’t care. But we we are far from not caring. In fact, we are doing it because we care so much.

With our new expressions emerging out of the old, we are bringing the Church and the Kingdom into a future of flourishing in new ways. Just like there is no stopping the train of birth once it is rolling, there is no stopping an idea whose time has come. And there is no stopping this movement of emerging and intentional church communities from developing. In bringing our new communities into being, I believe we get to see the secret of a beautiful birth in action. Like that tipping point in baby birthing, so too in church birthing, we would do well to recognise when it is time to let go, to trust the momentum of new birth, trust the corporate body, and trust God.