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 PrintableVersion The shaming of the strongThe challenge of an unborn lifeWhat is normal?THE SHAMING OF THE STRONG A routine 20-week scan reveals Sarah and Paul’s baby has severe deformities, which means that birth will be fatal. This very powerful and moving book allows us to join with Sarah and the rest of the family on the very difficult journey to the baby’s (Cerian’s) birthday, which will also be her deathday. The Shaming of the Strong is a very poignant title (1 Corinthians 1.27: ‘God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong’). Sarah’s personal anguish and fears are openly and honestly portrayed throughout the book. She shares with us how God changes and develops her thinking and attitudes. She says the decision to carry Cerian to term and not to abort ‘felt like the ultimate destruction of my ego, my plans, my dreams and desires and yet from the point of view of my spiritual life — of my self — it had been the most constructive and life-giving thing I have ever done’. She gradually allowed God to gently break what she once thought was ‘strength’ — the things she relied on for acceptance and existence. ‘Cerian shamed my strength’, she said, and brought her into a new intimacy with Jesus. Through Sarah’s developing thinking, we are also exposed to the ethical dilemmas of stem cell research, pre-implantation, genetic diagnosis, etc., but from a personal ’inside’ view which carries weight. How do ‘we’ have the right to decide what is ‘normal’, what is a ‘good quality ‘ of life? An insightful and thought-provoking book. Rosie Crowter, © Evangelicals Now - January 2006 |
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