The power of POSITIVITY

This past weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the weekend with twenty senior highs (grades 9-12) from four different schools, fellowshipping together and spending time in God's Word. Nineteen of the twenty youth were your average teenager, typical by every definition - but one, a very special one, who I will refer to as John, was atypical and a blessing to all who were present.

Above youth from the fall retreat pause to have a little fun after an 

afternoon 

on 

Camp 

Krislunds 

high 

ropes course.

John is fourteen, optimistic, creative, insightful, and happens to be an Individual With Disabilities. John is challenged by physical limitations such as poor balance and limited vision, and social limitations typical to one on the autism spectrum. John's most noted accomplishments (at least in my book) include overcoming his limitations, a screenplay that he wrote his freshman year, joining the church and now - defying gravity by trying both the climbing wall and high ropes course on our fall retreat. While John's attempts at outdoor adventure activities may not have been graceful, his attitude surpassed any I have ever experienced. From the moment he expressed his desire to try, to his positive critique of what typical teenagers would have considered failure, John embodied for me the value of a Christian community. In that space and time, John felt safe enough to let down his guard and try. While John's outdoor adventure attempts spoke volumes, his insights and thoughtfulness during group study exceeded anything I could have possibly imagined. Sharing openly and bearing himself to the group (of which as a typical teenager I would have been intimidated) John shared Christ with others. In the hours and days following our study time together, teenager after teenager has approached me saying 'John really inspired me' or 'John is such an amazing person' or 'John made me want to try harder on my walk with God' - to those typical teenagers John's atypical teenage attitude made a lasting impression. 

This reflection on a weekend where God was alive and at work, has caused me to stop, marvel, and give thanks for the love and energy that has been poured into John's life. John has truly been created in God's image and those who have reminded him of that day after day, year after year are a blessing to all!

Faithful Imagination.

As I read the most recent issue of The Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health, I found myself stuck on the article titled Christian Community and Uncommon Courtesy. This particular work was written in response to a newspaper article which reported all too common occurrences in our places of worship, fear and intolerance to difference. The article described how a young woman, an Individual With Disabilities (IWD) and her mother were asked to leave worship by an usher after the young woman outburst during a time of prayer and communion. As the article reports, the young woman, her mother, and her siblings left church that day never to return. Bethany McKinney, author of the Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health article, suggests that a number of wrongs were written that day and that the congregation not only sent a negative message to the young woman and her family,  but also impeded their own growth.

In her article, McKinney suggests that there are several reasons why a congregation should include a 'disruptive' person in worship, the first of which examines the term disabled. McKinney suggests, as do others in the field, that each of us are temporarily able-bodied persons (Nancy Eiesland), that at one point in our lives whether due to physical injury, brain disorder, aging, or even allergies, each of us will in someway experience what it means to be disabled. Building on the concept of being temporarily able-bodied, McKinney goes on to suggest that, 'welcoming people with disabilities, even when deeply inconvenient, can be a self-serving exercise in empathy.'(288)  That, 'by relating to people with disabilities in their midst, members of (the) congregation[s] have the opportunity to deepen their empathic skills and to become more honest and loving toward their own bodies.' (289) Secondly, McKinney suggests that 'worshiping among people with developmental disabilities often means there is an element of unpredictability inherent in the service,' (298) but that we are each called to remember that, 'in worship the church is made vulnerable to a God that would rule this world not by coercion but through the unpredictability of love.' (Hauerwas)

For McKinney, the solution to the aforementioned problems lies in a renewed faithful imagination on the part of the worshiping community. McKinney suggests that while the differences of the young girl mentioned in the article 'included loud shrieks and screams during some quieter moments of the worship service, and that this event could prove quite disconcerting for others, this reality, however does not excuse the community from visioning for ways to include her in their time or worship. Her differences, incompatible as they may seem with many of the traditional elements of a  Sunday morning service, do not take her beyond the possibility of inclusion. Rather they call the receiving community to a deeper level of imagination as they struggle to find a way to be faithful members of the household of God.' (304)

While many have weighed in on the the ethical dilemma of the young woman and the congregation, few have discussed what faithful imagination might occur within congregations. So what does McKinney's suggestion mean for congregations? I would suggest that it means creativity, flexibility, and an openness to allowing the Holy Spirit to move through the congregation. That it means developing relationships (...and we're back) and educational opportunities among the members of the worshiping community (Those who have gone before us.).  That it means finding ways to lift-up the gifts of all members of the community in a variety of ways, both in worship and within the communities life (JOY!).

So as we continue on this journey, consider how you might encourage your congregations faithful imagination both in ministering with IWD and with the greater congregation.