A picture is worth a thousand words. If you can see it, yes, that is true. If that picture cannot be seen, it is worth nothing. The disabled and the able-bodied have very different ways they experience the world. They will inevitably have different ways in which they join Jesus in mission. Lines are drawn in every facet of our society – race, intellect, class, politics, personality – we divide ourselves in every way we possibly can. But what about disability? Is this a problem too for the Church? Do able-bodied folks and the disabled stand on opposite sides of the dividing line. Listen to an open letter from one mission leader who happens to be blind. Imagine God’s renewed community on mission together.
Dear Able-Bodied Church,
Most of you like me. We hang out all the time and you tell me how engaging I am in conversation. You get comfortable with me and even begin to joke that I don’t look blind or seem like I have a visual disability. You can sometimes lament that it is almost like you are talking to a normal person. Thank you. Normal is what I was going for.
Though we are mostly comfortable together in church and community, some of you make some serious mistakes. You often circle all the people around me in times of socializing without extending a welcoming word or introduction. My lack of eye contact feels like no contact at all. I ache to be seen yet I am unseen. Oh, but I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable you say. I am concerned that you won’t be able to do this or that. You have a lot of fears about me. Can you just relax a little bit? Put your hand on your belly, take a deep breath, breathe. Welcome me the way that Jesus told us to welcome all to the banqueting table.
I get that I live in a sighted world. 24 hours a day I am reminded that the world was made for the sighted, not for the blind. Almost daily someone approaches me to ask me what I can see. My answer is never satisfactory. I wish I knew what the answer was supposed to be. It is all so exhausting. I don’t know if this is realistic but I long for the day when the community of the King, the Church, begins to write a different story. No doubt that there are so many sectors of society who have nailed it when it comes to inclusion and welcome. Without hesitation, I admit that I have ventured into places, organizations, and work sites that were as accessible as anyone would dream.
I wonder though if accessibility and accommodation is really the point of Jesus’ message on disability. Can a community of Christ in rural Nepal or the jungles of the Amazon who have no understanding of all the gadgets and current inclusion protocol still get this thing right? This can’t just be about American disability policy or being current. I don’t just want accommodation; I long to join Jesus on mission with you. I am asking you – honestly, yet boldly asking you to start smoking what you are selling. As a mission leader I know what radical welcome looks like. I have tasted the sweetness of no more us and them. I have rarely seen or felt that though as a blind guy in Christian community. I have felt welcomed but rarely have I felt equal. Is it too much to ask that all our hands are in the pile together and there is a seat at the table for me?
I am speaking in general terms because I think you are struggling to understand some of the weightier matters. Braille handouts, emailing slide shows, describing what is on a screen – yes, surely that would be nice and helpful. Paint the picture on the challenges of any disability and we try to resolve them with practical answers. You tend to think of these solutions first. They aren’t bad ideas at all but for many disabled in your communities, it is not pragmatics that will ultimately form us for mission. There are advocates all around the world who have rattled the cage for these kinds of solutions, and I applaud them. What I hope you gain from hearing me out in this letter though is a shift in ethos. I don’t just want to be accommodated, protected, or for your programs to be easy for me to access – I want to be on mission with Jesus with you. Do you think you have the courage to walk with me to see that happen?
Disabled scholar and ministry leader, Miriam Spies calls for the making of space for people like me when she writes, “There needs to be an intentional creation of space. It is not about moving those from the margins to the center but transforming how we understand the center and power. And with that, we all grow in identifying ourselves as disciples participating in and offering leadership in God’s mission.”
[i] I am humbly asking for space to be made. I know it is not intuitive or effortless to do so. Mission never is.
Ultimately, we both know that this is not mostly about me. It isn’t even mostly about all the disabled or marginalized people who will become part of your community. This is mostly about Christ and His Kingdom. Together we have a chance to get this right and reflect the matchless Kingdom of God to the world. Truly, you have made so much progress. Even in my lifetime I have watched things shift from being the guy that everyone needed to see healed so He could feel like a whole person. Now the dial has moved towards over-protection and not wanting to do the wrong thing. Your love and heart is not the problem. You have shown me again and again that is in the right place. Do not be discouraged by my tone but I am weary – many on the margins are weary. We want someone to listen before espousing solutions.
Perhaps you know Dr. Amos Yong or have read some of his stuff on disability. Amos has a brother with down syndrome and has made some great contributions in disability studies for the church. One thing that he wrote a few years ago that has helped me is the reminder that it is not the disabled who have an issue with their disability. It is often the constant reminders that they are given from the broader culture that they somehow don’t belong or are in need of being rightly put together again.[ii] I am pleading with you not to make this assumption but to work with me hand in hand to announce and demonstrate Christ in your community. I am up for it. Let’s soar together and if we fall, we will fall together. But please, please don’t relegate my contribution in the body of Christ to be one of sitting on the sidelines simply because you are uncomfortable or are unsure what the outcome will be.
On behalf of my disabled brothers and sisters who long to be on mission with you as full participants, I don’t have a long list of suggestions to make. Many people in your community have already figured out accommodations to make our lives a little less stressful. You can take a visit to local businesses and corporations to learn some of the beautiful ways they are making things accessible for the disabled. Surely, we have a long way to go even with these cosmetics, but I think the issue is more than cosmetic. It is spiritual. The Cross and mission of Jesus must be accessible. I am asking for a Kingdom vision.
· We are all image bearers of God. “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image” (Gen. 1:26). If you do not give us a chance to lead, serve, and attempt things for the Lord through the local church we are robbed of our God-given design to be image bearers.
· We are one body and each person a necessity. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So, it is with Christ. . .. those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 22). I know you know this but would you dare to imagine with me that those on the margins can be contributors of God’s mission of the Church and not merely recipients of benevolence?
· Christ established a new humanity at the Cross. The imagery of no more “us and them” is so powerfully penned in Ephesians when Paul speaks of none of us being strangers or foreigners any longer. We are all part of God’s household; we are God’s family (Eph. 2:19-20) Regardless of your choice to hear this plea or not, it will not change the facts. We are all part of God’s family. With your influence and position, would you jump in on what God has already revealed in this upside-down Kingdom?
Brothers and sisters, (that is truly who you are to me), there is a lot at stake. The very nature and integrity of the mission of Jesus is on the line if we are not all participants. May we be able to join in profound and breath-taking ways to see the magnificence of Jesus roll through our communities. I love you. I care for you. You are my family. Let’s join together to get this thing done as Christ intended.
With hope,
Your brother and friend who happens to be blind
[1]Miriam Spies, “Making Space, Offering Voice: Leadership of People with Disabilities in God’s Mission” International Review of Missions June 18, 2019 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irom.12259 Last Accessed March 15, 2019
[1] Amos Yong, The Bible, Disability, and the Church: A New Vision of the People of God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publishers, 2011, Kindle Location 167-220.
[i]Miriam Spies, “Making Space, Offering Voice: Leadership of People with Disabilities in God’s Mission” International Review of Missions June 18, 2019 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irom.12259 Last Accessed March 15, 2019 2[ii] Amos Yong, The Bible, Disability, and the Church: A New Vision of the People of God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publishers, 2011, Kindle Location 167-220.
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