I listened to a podcast recently of an interview with a pastor named Lamar Hardwick, whose website calls him the “Autism Pastor.” He was diagnosed in his 30s with Asperger’s syndrome (a term that is no longer used clinically); those with this diagnosis demonstrate “above average intelligence and strong verbal skills but will experience challenges with social communication.” (Integrity, Inc.) Hardwick said in the interview that this diagnosis explained much of what he’d experienced throughout his life in terms of his interactions with people, and it was helpful for him in understanding his approach to and practice of ministry.
It also inspired him to write a book, “Disability and the Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion”. In the interview Hardwick challenges the church to be more aware of the varieties of disabilities, including those that we usually don’t consider, and how to recognize that not addressing the need for accommodations can come across as unwelcoming. He said that if we indeed view everyone as made in the image and likeness of God, that includes anyone with any kind of disability. He also said that if we live long enough, all of us will become part of the disability community.
I thought about that last statement, especially as relates to Human Relations Sunday, and the ways that life circumstances can cause us to become part of the disability community. If we indeed (as Hardwick also stated) view everyone as made in the image and likeness of God, that includes anyone with any kind of disability, and if we develop disabling conditions at any point along the way as our life unfolds, that doesn’t take away from our being made in the image and likeness of God. And if we begin life with disabling conditions, that also doesn’t diminish that we are made in the image and likeness of God.
And, interestingly, we do make accommodations for some realities of human life that we may not consider as disabilities, but indeed are. I remember one Sunday a few years ago when my glasses had broken, and the only pair of “backups” I could find at first were an older prescription. I could see to drive, but I could not see to read, which was going to significantly affect doing my job on Sunday morning (turns out the “newer” backups with which I could read were in my car—whew!). I realized, not for the first time, that without the invention of corrective lenses I would be severely disabled. Anyone who has had to get a hearing aid also understands how certain devices that are available keep one from being more disabled than would be the case without such options. We do have accommodations that don’t seem on first thought like they are for those with disabilities, but they indeed are.
I didn’t develop poor eyesight because of some failing on my part (it wasn’t reading too much in poor lighting, honestly!); gauging from my family history it was inevitable that I would need glasses. And accommodations were possible. So many of us have this issue (I was on a recent Zoom meeting where 7 of the 9 participants wore glasses, and I suspect a number of us had bifocals) that we don’t see corrective lenses as accommodations for a disability. But that’s exactly what they are.
So part of Human Relations—part of what it means to “make an impact in communities where people struggle because they don’t have the tools or resources to reach their God-given potential”—is to seek out and find whatever the version of “corrective lenses” is called for for those with whatever other disabling conditions they might have. Just as those of us who need glasses have access to the accommodations that keep us from being “held back”, so we in our caring outreach and concern for those with other disabling conditions, are to find what makes it possible for them not to be “held back” from full participation in the life of the church. All are welcome; the Kingdom of God is for everyone. We need to be attentive to what barriers exist that we can take down, and what adaptations can be made to make access to what God wants for everyone more possible.
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 62:1-5
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
GOSPEL John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 4 And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.