The Spirit of God Hovered

This article was pretty eye opening. When I began reading it, there were so many thoughts going through my mind and things that I wanted to say, I knew that I needed to spend more time thinking about it. I feel as though God created people with mental disabilities in His image to express the many characteristics of Himself. In all of the volunteer work that I have done with exceptional students, I have always noticed their utter joy and curiosity for the world around them. It is contagious and it helps me to not take little things in life for granted. Those with disabilities have helped me tremendously to stop and smell the roses. God does use them, and they do have a “life force.” Just as they might not appear normal to us sinful humans, their life goals and purposes look completely different than ours as well.

I believe this quote is true, “that the able-bodied and the able-minded are the lens through which these things are understood,” but I think that it is true for everyone. Everyone, even those with disabilities, sees the world through a unique perspective, I think. I will use myself as an example of this. I have been a Christian since before I can remember. I try hard to be loving and kind to others, to separate the sacred and profane, and to submit to a holy life. I enjoy peace and quiet, hiking, and thrift store shopping. I love finding ways to be frugal. Because of each of these things, I see the world through a unique lens. I do think, though, that lenses can and should be altered. I never thought that I would be content living in a metropolitan city, and yet I lived in Vienna, Austria for two years and enjoyed every minute of it. I think we should all seek out such experiences because they are what brings richness and transformation to our lives. I think that we become more like God when our own identities are stripped and we begin to see the world around us through God's identity. Fetke talks about reformulating our understanding of humanity. I think everyone needs to do this. Even those who look like me, talk like me, and act like me share different qualities of our Lord. A character quality that might irk me (extreme optimism, for example) can be something that God can use to help me to stop and smell the roses.

Quite honestly, page four of this article blew my mind. There are many things that I have studied over and over again in Scripture that I have not yet grasped, and this article has me thinking a great deal about the Messiah's identity. I want to write a little bit about this quote: “This view of God in Christ as “disabled” might mean that believers wrestle with perfectionist language and expectations of humans.” This quote immediately had me thinking of 2 Corinthians 5:21 which reads, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Sunday school growing up, I was taught that Jesus was perfect, but God's word says that He became sin. I don't think these two things contradict each other, but I do think that saying Jesus was perfect in our human understanding of perfect is kind of skewed. He took human form and lived just as you and I do. I don't think He sinned in the same way, but I do think that this idea of His perfection is reminiscent of gnosticism and the idea that God is too perfect to be approached. God is perfect, but not in our human, holier than thou perception of perfection. As the article expresses, we shouldn't worry about perfection, but about love. Love is the greatest commandment and one lens in my own life that I hope remains stable or grows even more is my ability to love.

Reading about L'arche made me think of how I have been ministered to by those with learning challenges. I know that I mentioned it before, but I cannot get over how incessantly happy these people are. They truly have the gift of joy in the face of persecution, physical suffering, and day by day difficulty because the world around them is so different. I love when the author says, that his son is “'minister' and one in need of ministry.” This reminds me of a teenager in my local congregation who is developmentally delayed. She stands at the door every week and hands us all bulletins with a cheerful smile. She has a gift of hospitality and knows how to make people feel welcome. She is also a part of our dance team and one of us often stays after class to help her to get the steps down. We minister to her and she ministers in a tremendous way to us. I wish that more churches would recognize people like her and train them up in different ministries to be used for the Lord. They are such willing vessels. It seems like L'arche is stepping in the right direction in providing a way to help those with disabilities find their calling and ministry within the body of Messiah. I am fully behind the author in his statement to, “Make it happen soon.” We need to see a change in the church in regards to these issues. We need those with disabilities to be seen as both minister and in need of ministry.