Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Luke 5: 22
People with developmental disabilities, people like Sam, have taught me that each person matters. These days, we often forget about the one, about individual people – we are so distracted by all the things and the many people which call for our attention.
This young girl's response not only shows that most people have the capacity to understand how to provide effective support to another person simply by observing and interacting with them thereby demystifying some of the potential challenges to supporting people with disabilities. The principle of watching and learning is also valuable when it comes to matters of faith.
As someone who works in a Christian ministry serving people with disabilities, I’m thankful that this “Emmaus road” is open to us. While sometimes God works in impressive, earth-changing ways, it is a relief to know that he can also work through our small acts of coming alongside people on their journey.
When I first really dug into exploring Jesus in the Gospels, I encountered someone who offered love, liberation, and wholeness to people who needed it in the midst of structures and systems that didn’t always do the same.
Jesus removed a barrier and helped someone ignored to be heard. Jesus challenged societal and religious (gasp!) practices and expectations that kept people like this man in poverty and on the outside. Jesus helped a man who was blind to take a step toward community.
Understanding Joseph as an individual on the autism spectrum helps to illuminate not only the text of the Torah but also many comments and teachings about Joseph found in the classical Jewish sources I had previously studied.
WORD: "Then he turned to his host. 'When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,' he said, '“don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of [...]
WORD: "In that coming day," says the LORD, "I will gather together those who are lame, those who have been exiles, and those whom I have filled with grief. Tears of joy will stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They will walk beside quiet streams and on smooth paths [...]
WORD: “For I will bring them from the north and from the distant corners of the earth. I will not forget the blind and lame, the expectant mothers and women in labor. A great company will return!" (Jeremiah 31:8, NLT) THOUGHT: God brings people who are marginalized into the centre of His community. Just as with the [...]
