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Talking about infertility and miscarriage is hard—including in church. "Well-meaning comments from fellow Christians can also inadvertently induce shame and guilt rather than provide comfort," writes CT editor Isabel Ong, who’s grieved the loss of three pregnancies. "We refrain from discussions about these topics because it can feel awkward. … We honor families with large numbers of children without also comforting those who are silently suffering." |
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But it doesn’t have to be this way. Cycles of stigma and humiliation can be broken. "There is no shame in articulating our distress and desires before the Lord and his people," Ong proclaims. |
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The same encouragement extends to sufferers of scrupulosity, a subtype of OCD focused on moral or religious obsessions and compulsions. "On the outside, we look like elite Christians, always reading our Bibles and showing up at church whenever the doors are open, but our motivations are driven by fear rather than joy," writes Drew Brown. |
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"It’s been ten years since my diagnosis and discovery—ten years of receiving the Eucharist, taking medication, and going to therapy. Since then, I’ve realized that there are many others out there like me. … I’ve also realized that so few pastors and spiritual mentors recognize or are aware of scrupulosity." |
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"For those with spiritual authority, know that those who live with scrupulosity are sitting in your pews," he concludes. "We love God, but we need words of peace spoken over our frayed and fidgeting souls." |
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This week on Wonderology: If our brains can so deeply alter us, do they define who we are? Our hosts visit a neuroscience lab and hold real human brains in their hands. They meet a man who wants his mind back—and is willing to go to extreme lengths to get it. And they wrestle with a haunting question at the edge of science and faith: Are we just the sum of our neurons, or are we something more? |
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"When you think of a brain, you probably think of power—the supercomputer running everything you do. But power isn’t the same as tough. The brain is fragile. Shockingly fragile." | Listen here. |
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Kate Shellnutt, editorial director, news: Whimsical, imaginative, and unpredictable, the cartoon series Over the Garden Wall won an Emmy for animation a decade ago and is worth revisiting every fall (streaming on Hulu). |
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Isabel Ong, Asia editor: Netflix’s Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is funny and heartwarming, and its over-the-top special effects every time the king tastes the chef’s food are pretty hilarious. |
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Kristy Etheridge, features editor: The Couch-to-5K (C25K) app has been my friend when I’m postpartum or just out of shape. It gradually builds you up from couch-potato status to running a 5K. I also like C25K’s big sister, the 10K app. |
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The church calendar can help us address our frenzied pace of life.
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It implies a movement of the Spirit, not just a boost in numbers.
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The two-actor play uses C. S. Lewis’s classic work to warn people—especially Christians—about the dangers of lukewarm faith.
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From Gregorian chants to CCM megahits, we need music that confronts us with the gospel’s strangeness.
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The Christian story shows us that grace often comes from where we least expect. In this issue, we look at the corners of God’s kingdom and chronicle in often-overlooked people, places, and things the possibility of God’s redemptive work. We introduce the Compassion Awards, which report on seven nonprofits doing good work in their communities. We look at the spirituality underneath gambling, the ways contemporary Christian music was instrumental in one historian’s conversion, and the steady witness of what may be Wendell Berry’s last novel. All these pieces remind us that there is no person or place too small for God’s gracious and cataclysmic reversal. |
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