“Within us – as a sheer gift of God – is the capacity to bring forth what has never been before, including what has never been imagined before.”
~John Philip Newell, The Rebirthing of God

Here in Minnesota we are five days into what we lovingly call ‘The Great Minnesota Get-Together’….the State Fair. Some people shun this twelve day experience of foods on sticks and carnival atmosphere for the festival of over indulgence it can become. Others love it for the palette of creativity and connection with the Heartland that it preserves. I am the later, a true lover of the State Fair’s daily pull of summer’s ending and herald of autumn. I’d go every day if I could and I know that, even then, I would not see the fullness of it all. Quilts lovingly stitched. Intricate sweaters knitted. Wood-working that seem unimaginable. Art of a multitude of shades and shapes created by city-dweller and country-dweller displayed side by side. Vegetables lined up in their exquisite beauty of color and form. Jars filled with preserved goodness awaiting a winter yet to be. The list goes on and on.

On Friday, however, I stood with countless others in the Miracle of Birth barn. This red structure abuzz with bovine and swine and fowl galore is a magnet for those who marvel at the beginning of life. People crowd around pens holding pigs and chickens, geese and cows, waiting to see another life come into the world. If you are unable to see it up close and personal, the overhead screens give you a bird’s eye view of the action. This is exactly what I did for over an hour Friday morning as I waited and cheered on a mother cow giving birth to a beautiful, black and white calf. Standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers, I rooted on this strong and amazing creature. When she breathed, I breathed. When she pushed, I felt the push within my own body. I watched as she lay down and then stood allowing gravity to work in the way it does moving this birth along.

Perched on a stool behind me was a young man in an official Miracle of Birth shirt watching over my shoulder. It seemed a perfect chance to ask all my questions and so I did. His patience at this non-farmer’s words were patient and matter of fact. But the one statement he made, not driven at all by any question I asked, has stayed with me. “It’s completely amazing. In just a little bit of time, where there was no life, another one will be here in this room, in this world. Amazing….”

It was clear to me from our conversation that this young man was probably a veterinarian or at least a vet student. He was also, from other things he said, a farmer who had grown up on a farm and seen this kind of thing many times. And yet his amazement was present and full and real. He was as filled with awe as those of us first-timers who applauded with gusto as the calf slipped silently and miraculously into the world. When the attending vet mouthed quietly “It’s a boy.” we all nodded our heads and seemed to congratulate one another at being midwives to another life in the room, in the world. Some of us wiped tears of joy from our faces and breathed sighs of relief.

This morning as I read the words above from John Philip Newell’s new book I thought of the birth experience I witnessed on Friday. The birth of this calf was a visible reminder of the life in the world, in all things, that longs to be made known. We see it with each new baby born. We see it with the birds that pecked their way out of eggs over the last months and the seeds that pushed their way out of the earth, now gracing our gardens and yards with summer bounty. The impetus of Creation is to bring about “what has never been before”. It is the work of the artist and the farmer, the factory worker and the chef, the construction worker and the scientist.

So many places in our world right now long for the gift of new birth. The hope of the miracle of imagining something that has never been before is all around us. For places of war…..the birth of peace. For those gripped in the cycles of poverty….the birth of justice for all. For all of us held captive by racism…..the brilliant imagining of a new way forward. For those who sorrow and grieve….the birth of compassion. For the lost and the lonely….the emergence of companionship.

The sheer gift of God is with us…..let the birthing begin…..