I come to my work and passion around the full inclusion of people with disabilities and their families honestly. When I was in junior high school the pastor of my small town United Methodist Church was a person who embraced a charismatic Christianity. During his tenure as pastor of the church there was speaking in tongues and there were many prayers spoken for healing (cure) of physical, emotional, spiritual and practical circumstances.

When I was 14 or 15 the pastor became convinced the God wanted to heal (cure) me of the effects of cerebral palsy. The pastor would call me to the altar each Sunday, anoint me with oil and pray that God would heal (cure) me. This went on for a number of months. I was never cured of the physical effect of my cerebral palsy. The pastor first became convinced that he was praying for the wrong thing and asked my family and I to explain what cerebral palsy was so he could make sure the correct words. There came a time when the pastor began to believe that his prayers weren’t the impediment to me receiving “my healing.” He then started asking me questions about un-confessed sins and wondering aloud if I really wanted to be free of my disability.

What I wanted when I was 15 and what I desire for myself and all of us now is the same. I want to inhabit congregations and communities where disabilities are not perceived to be impediments to lives fully lived and gifts, skills, and abilities shared for the healing and transformation of the world.

I have given talks and presented workshops to churches, synagogues, masajid and temples over the years and I have tried to speak words of hope and possibility to the people who have honored this vital conversation with their presences and participation. I have spoken words of hope and possibility because I am hopeful that churches, synagogues, masajid and temples all over this country WILL become places where people with disabilities and their temporarily able bodied fellow members share their gifts, skills and abilities together.

I sometimes choose to believe this in the face of evidence that speaks otherwise. Reverend Bill Gaventa says that when you ask families to tell the stories of their congregations you will either hear great stories of communities creating opportunities for belonging and community or you will hear terrible stories of exclusion and humiliation at the hands of religious people.

I know that stories of humiliation and hope are being written in congregations every day. The stories of entrance denied, of dignity trampled on, of gifts unrecognized serve to break my heart. My heart breaks because I know that congregations are turning away opportunities to help themselves become the communities that the Holy one is calling them to become.

There stories of access denied, of dignity denied, of the image of God denied threaten to force me to curse the darkness and begin to claim that religious leaders will never catch up to the wonderful, life-giving work God desires to do in our religious communities. These stories make me angry and depressed.

I know that stories of humiliation and hope are being told every day as well and these stories too often serve to tell people who live with disabilities and their families that religious communities are not place where they can seek to live as fully human, fully included people made in the most excellent of all molds (the Image of the Divine).

Where then is the content of my hope?

The content of my hope lies in congregations and communities who are engaging in the messy work of re-membering, calling back together ALL of the members to be the community we are called to be together.

These are stories where parish priests affirm that working with people with mental illness is the work that helps them come alive. These are stories where congregations covenant to stand with families with members with disabilities no matter what. These are stories where seminarians sit around a class room table and gain tools, resources and language to make the congregations they will lead places where everyone finds community and belonging.

The experience that I recounted at the beginning of this post plunged me into a dark night of the soul that lasted for a couple of years. I confused the my church’s un-willingness to accept me, as I was, with what I perceived to be G-d’s unwillingness to claim me. G-d and I were not on speaking terms for quite a while.

It was in college in 1994-1995 when I was introduced to a church called Community of Hope. This church was appropriately named if one ever was. The church was a place where people living with HIV/AIDS came and were accepted. It was a place where single parents found support. It was a place where people from every social class could worship together. It was a place that was committed to welcoming all of God’s people!

I began to experience unconditional love, acceptance, and healing (not cure, but healing) In fact, it was in this place that G-d 1st planted the seeds in me that I was acceptable and uniquely gifted. It was here ,for the first time, in the church(!) that I knew I could be a person with cerebral palsy and a valued member of a community. I understood that I could inhabit my body without apology!

I have hope because G-d met me, in a community, and spoke to me about how important I was to G-d and to my community.

I have hope because in the face of religious leaders and congregations who don’t yet know how to reflect the image of G-d who says, “YOU are valuable, YOU are Mine, and I love YOU!” There are people committed to stepping out in the midst of uncertainty and fear. There are people committed to naming the silences and telling and hearing life giving stories.

This post was prompted by my re-encountering a ritual in a book titled Shaping Sanctuary: Proclaiming God’s Grace in an Inclusive Church. The volume was edited by my friend, Reverend Kelly Turney. The ritual is titled: A Ritual of Hope The ritual comes from the Community of Hope in Tulsa and it is the community’s promise to journey with Barb and her son, Daniel, who lives with autism as they seek to better supports for Daniel.

I have hope because their are wonderfully loving, supportive, courageous people in the world who aren’t afraid to call each other by name and committ to support each other whatever comes.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said, “The moral ark of the universe is long and it bends toward justice” and I will add to that the idea that there are courageous people who are willing to do the the work to bend it when justice doesn’t come as quickly as it should.

As stress increases more and more people in our congregation are likely experiencing the effects of depression. I have found that too often we have difficulty speaking the truth about depression because we feel we should be better able to control our moods. We become convinced that depression is a sign of weakness.

May faith groups have put together resources to assist congregations in talking about and responding to depression and other form of mental illness in our midsr. Here are links to a few of them:

United Methodist General Board of Church & Society

Department of Jewish Family Concerns- Union For Reform Judaism-Mental Health information

Presbyterian Church (USA)- National Health Ministries- Serious Mental Illness Information

Mental Health: Ministries: To Erase The Stigma of Mental Illness

I was reminded of these issues and the importance of providing space for this important conversation by a recent interview I saw with Quaker teacher and Scholar Parker Palmer.

Please take a few minutes minutes to view the clip below:

I would love to hear your reflections on our times and the rise of depression. I would also love to hear from readers concerning your reflections on the Parker Palmer clip.

This story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer examines some of the ways that inclusion in our religious communities benefits everyone.

I would love to hear what some of you think about this?

Reverend Alan Roof, Consultant for Still Speaking Church Development for the Southeast Conference of the UCC interviewed me recently for the Southeast Conference United Church of Christ podcast series. You can find the podcast here. I would love to hear your feedback.

The Interpreter Magazine is a publication of the United Methodist Church. This  month’s issue features the stories of a couple of United Methodist Churches and work they are doing to reach out to people who have disabilities.

The article is helpful as far as it provides a couple of models of ministry with people with disabilities. I would have appreciated  fewer references in the article to “special needs” language. I know we struggle from time to time with appropriate language about disability, but there are more life giving ways to speak about disability than the language of “special needs.”

Kathie Snow, in her article about People First Language says the following:

Many parents say “my child has special needs” this term geberates  generates pity, as demonstrated by the usual response, “Oh I’m so sorry,” accompanied by a sad look or a sympathetic pat on the arm. (Gag!) A person’s needs aren’t “special”-to him. They are ordinary! Many adults have said they detested this descriptor as children.  Let’s learn from them and stop using this pity-laden term!

I would love encourage each of you to examine your language about disability. The language we use shapes the reality we are working to create.

The basic premise I proceed with when I think about language and disability is that people are not their diagnoses. When all else fails refer to a person by the name their parents gave them when they were born.

I would love to know what folks think of both the article from the Interpreter Magazine and my comments on language?

A colleague just passed this article along to me and it showcases and intriguing approach to congregational education and advocacy

The Lutheran reprinted a letter from Gloria Tessler whose son, Nick lives with Autism.

Gloria Tessler wrote this article for her congregation’s newsletter.  The letter explains Autism and behaviors that fellow parishioners might witness .  The article also invites congregants to ask questions and seek clarification.

What do you think about this? Would this approach work in your congregation? Have you seen this kind of education and advocacy used previously?  What outcomes did you witness?

Update: I received a message from a Parish Nurse at an Atlanta Area Lutheran Congregation that said:

I have two grandsons in the same family with autism. I think it is a wonderful idea to publish an article in the newsletter to let people know just how intelligent these kids may be, but because of their outward behavior, they aren’t always accepted.

I read this insightful post from Real Live Preacher this morning and it made me think about the ways our congregations do and do not address the issues that face people with mental health diagnoses.

Real LivePreacher has been very open about his journey with depression and his struggle in seeking treatment. I applaud his willingness to speak the truth of his experience and to hopefully provide an opportunity for his readers to “hear” the story of a person who is living his life in the midst of depression. The stories matter!

According to the National Institutes on Mental Health (NIMH) about 1 in 4 people over the age of 18 experience a mental illness in any given year. That’s a huge number.

It is incredibly important for our religious communities to be places where the silence around mental illness and disability is lifted and the truth is told.

Nancy Maris in her essay Carnal Acts makes this point much better than I could ever hope to when she says,

I can subvert its power(the power of shame), I’ve found, by acknowledging who I am, shame and all, and, in doing so, raising what was hidden, dark, secret about my life into the plain light of shared human experience. What we aren’t permitted to utter holds us, each isolated from every other in a kind of solipsistic thrall. Without any way to check our reality against anyone else’s, we assume that our fears and shortcomings are ours alone.

If you are a person in a congregation living with the secret of depression you are most certainly not alone.

There is a trend in some of our denominations to address the issues faced by people living with mental illnesses. Some examples of those efforts can be found:

Union of Reform Judaism- Department of Jewish Family Concerns

Mental Health Ministries

Creating Caring Communities Article- United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism

The Caring Congregation Program- Mission Peak UU Congregation- Freemont, CA

I would be interested to know about other resources readers have found as they sought to be educated around this too oft ignored set of issues?

I hope that these resources assist us in continuing to lift this important issue out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of communal compassion. And let it be so.

This is a camping experience offered through the Office for Ministry With Persons with Disabilities at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.

If you are a person with a disability or you know someone with a disability that might enjoy the retreat check out the information here.

I have volunteered at the retreat previously and it was a wonderful experience. If you would like to volunteer at the camp click here for further information.

The camp is hosted annually at Camp Twin Lakes. This is a wonderfully accessible camping facility near Rutledge, Georgia.

This is one of many camps throughout metro Atlanta that seek to provide camping experiences for individuals with disabilities. If you are looking for additional inclusive camps you can check out this previous post and click of the link to the resources guide.

This article is about Baptist Churches and some resources that are available for outreach to people with disabilities and their families.

The Evangelical Covenant Church is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. I recently came across resources the denomination has put together to encourage their congregations to work to welcome people with disabilities in ECC Congregations. They offer a wide range of resources to connect congregations who are working to welcome people with disabilities. Check out the information the ECC has put together.

I am grateful for the commitment of the Evangelical Covenant Church to this life-giving work.