What Was Lost: A Christian Journey through Miscarriage

by Elise Erikson Barrett, Phyllis Tickle (Foreword by)

Overview

United Methodist pastor Elise Erikson Barrett draws on her own painful experiences, as well as on interviews with others who have gone through the devastation of miscarriage, in an effort to help women grieve and, in time, to think theologically about pregnancy loss. Barrett also offers some much-needed practical advice about breaking the news to others, coping with insensitive comments, and grieving what is often a private loss, unmarked by the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664235208
Publisher:	Presbyterian Publishing
Publication date:	09/02/2010
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Elise Erikson Barrett has worked in a variety of ministry settings, including youth work, hospital and college chaplaincy, and church ministry. A native of Indiana, she now makes her home in South Carolina, where she is the mother of two small children.

Table of Contents

Foreword Phyllis Tickle ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Part 1 The Journey through Miscarriage

1 Remembering Your Pregnancy 3

2 Remembering Your Miscarriage 11

3 The Days After 21

4 The Medical Basics of Miscarriage 33

Part 2 The Journey with God

5 Why Did God Let This Happen? 47

6 What about the Baby? 57

7 Connected to the Life of God 65

8 Relating to God after a Miscarriage 75

Part 3 The Journey Forward

9 Who Else Is Hurting? 89

10 Breaking the News 99

11 When Other People Say Hurtful Things 107

12 Long-Term Effects 115

13 How to Say Good-Bye 129

14 Resources and Getting Help 139

Permissions 161

Notes 163

Editorial Reviews

Although one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, spiritual resources for those who miscarry are shockingly hard to find. Barrett, a United Methodist pastor who has herself had a miscarriage, has written a useful book to fill the void she, and so many others, discover when miscarriage claims their unborn children and their expectations. Barrett shares not only her own story but also the comments of other mothers-to-be who have experienced grief and loss. The author brings uniquely Christian pastoral and theological perspectives that will help not only mothers but also spouses/partners, clergy, and friends. Christian clergy will find especially useful a chapter of resources, but everyone touched by miscarriage can learn from this reflective book. Mothers can take comfort that they are hardly alone and that God is not cruel; others can learn to replace the well-intentioned but too frequently painful bromides of consolation with more sensitive balm. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Although one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, spiritual resources for those who miscarry are shockingly hard to find. Barrett, a United Methodist pastor who has herself had a miscarriage, has written a useful book to fill the void she, and so many others, discover when miscarriage claims their unborn children and their expectations. Barrett shares not only her own story but also the comments of other mothers-to-be who have experienced grief and loss. The author brings uniquely Christian pastoral and theological perspectives that will help not only mothers but also spouses/partners, clergy, and friends. Christian clergy will find especially useful a chapter of resources, but everyone touched by miscarriage can learn from this reflective book. Mothers can take comfort that they are hardly alone and that God is not cruel; others can learn to replace the well-intentioned but too frequently painful bromides of consolation with more sensitive balm." —Publishers Weekly, July 12, 2010

"In writing What Was Lost, Elise Barrett [is] electing not only to claim her grief, but also to record it without self-indulgence and with the kind of grace that, in the hands of the skilled writer, turns personal narrative into communal solace." Phyllis Tickle, from the foreword

"Barrett's book is a great gift to those of us who must minister in time of loss." Will Willimon, author and Bishop, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church

From the Publisher