A New Start

A New Start
Genesis 4: 23-26

Why does anyone want to have a child? A year or so after the birth of our first son, Ann had a miscarriage, and she was deeply grieved about that, as happens especially to a woman (it is easier for a man—at least it was for this man—to shrug his shoulders, and I had to learn what a miscarriage may mean to a woman). Ann was keen to start again soon, partly to put aside and get beyond that loss. When parents lose a child, they may well hasten to have another as part of getting beyond their grief. Another child can never replace the one that was lost, but it can help life go on. Having another child is a statement of hope. Indeed, why does anyone dare have a child? On a gloomy day, when I look at the state of the world, I can be tempted to feel glad that we are not starting out on that project, because one needs to have hope for the world in order to bring a child into the world. (Of course I tell myself that people in every generation have worried about how the future will turn out and that there is nothing uniquely apocalyptic about the age in which I live.) Adam and Eve’s having another baby is a declaration of hope in these various senses...