Fear Not the Disabled -- Part 3
Retrieved from:
Editorial (2005). Fear Not the Disabled., Christianity Today, 49 (11), 28.
Database: Academic Search Premier
Continued from Part 2:
But countless people with disabilities live full and productive lives. Regardless, Tada says, "We just don't know how to deal with any positive aspects of disability."
Disability may open the door to the work of God. Jesus' disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The Lord said the man's blindness presented a divine opportunity "that the works of God might be displayed in him." We, too, have the daily opportunity to display those works among the disabled.
Of course, reminding the church to care for the weak is a little like asking a fish to swim. It's what a healthy church does naturally. College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, offers a disability ministry "to make access to worship, ministry, and fellowship a reality for any child or adult with special needs."The church helps people with autism or pervasive developmental disorders and their parents through special Sunday school classes, inclusion programs, recreation nights, summer camps, and other opportunities. Dawn Clark, director of the ministry, points to Luke 14, saying, "God has called [the disabled] to be part of the banquet. We have a mandate from Christ."
Concern for the defenseless has characterized Christ's body from the beginning. The early Christians stood strongly against the widespread practice of infanticide, rescuing exposed infants and raising them in their own homes.
Today, we face a new round of infanticide dressed up as compassionate and enlightened social policy. Our responsibility is to lovingly demonstrate that people are valuable because they bear the image of their Creator.
Continued in Part 4
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Editorial (2005). Fear Not the Disabled., Christianity Today, 49 (11), 28.
Database: Academic Search Premier
Continued from Part 2:
But countless people with disabilities live full and productive lives. Regardless, Tada says, "We just don't know how to deal with any positive aspects of disability."
Disability may open the door to the work of God. Jesus' disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The Lord said the man's blindness presented a divine opportunity "that the works of God might be displayed in him." We, too, have the daily opportunity to display those works among the disabled.
Of course, reminding the church to care for the weak is a little like asking a fish to swim. It's what a healthy church does naturally. College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, offers a disability ministry "to make access to worship, ministry, and fellowship a reality for any child or adult with special needs."The church helps people with autism or pervasive developmental disorders and their parents through special Sunday school classes, inclusion programs, recreation nights, summer camps, and other opportunities. Dawn Clark, director of the ministry, points to Luke 14, saying, "God has called [the disabled] to be part of the banquet. We have a mandate from Christ."
Concern for the defenseless has characterized Christ's body from the beginning. The early Christians stood strongly against the widespread practice of infanticide, rescuing exposed infants and raising them in their own homes.
Today, we face a new round of infanticide dressed up as compassionate and enlightened social policy. Our responsibility is to lovingly demonstrate that people are valuable because they bear the image of their Creator.
Continued in Part 4
Copyright of Christianity Today is the property of Christianity Today International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Labels: Disability
posted by Arthur Seale at 1:05 AM
2 Comments:
I appreciate your analogy of 'teaching a fish to swim.' The Church as an human institution, reflecting the body of Christ, that should act and react spiritually, sometimes acts and reacts in the flesh. Unfortunately, the Church does exclude. I am glad, knowing Jesus Christ, that He loves me regardless of my many imperfections.
I agree that we should lovingly demonstrate that people are valuable because they bear the image of their Creator. Our differences should be celebrated rather than used as a guage to alienate us. We so often forget to see the reflection of our creator in the circumstances and faces of our fellow beings.
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