When the church functions well, it provides friendship, support, justice, spiritual resources, safety, and a space where people feel heard. More importantly, when the church truly embraces people with disabilities and their families, it also receives their giftedness, which helps it more authentically become the church it is meant to be.

In my previous post I mentioned a man who recently died of COVID ... he was one of the first people I supported who did not use words to communicate, but clearly had much to say.

Because everyone experiences the loss. Everyone grieves. Whether you lived with the person, worked with the person, or knew them in passing, their departure leaves a hole in the community that is felt much farther than one might expect.

Every time someone dies we grieve. We mourn. We miss them. And then we move on.

Because there’s someone else who needs that space, who needs that funding, who needs that support, who needs our focus.

Disability is not a barrier to the work of God’s grace in someone’s life. Jesus saves disabled people, as they are, without condition. The Church must embrace this truth, welcoming people with disabilities into full participation in worship and community, recognizing their unique gifts and the ways God is working through them.

For four years, I’ve reported on the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada. I’ve listened to disabled Canadians share their fears and stories, feeling their sorrow deeply. Through this, I’ve found that MAiD starkly reminds me of Jesus’s hope, generosity, and presence in grief.