Instead of desperately trying to cure all disabilities, the church should do the slow and difficult work of healing the surrounding society by tearing down spaces, practices, and mindsets that are inaccessible to disabled people, even when those spaces are inside the church itself. The church should follow Jesus by healing instead of curing.
There is a difference between curing and healing, and the church called to the slow and difficult work of healing. We are called to enter into one another‘s pain, anoint the sick, and stick around, no matter the outcome, even when it makes us uncomfortable.
The goal of healing isn‘t fixing, but restoring. It‘s a transformative process that seeks to make someone feel whole. Healing is not about erasing the experience of trauma (which I‘m pretty sure is impossible) but about processing it and coming to terms with it, no matter how heavy it might be to carry.
Curing is a physical process; it‘s individual, usually (fairly) rapid, and concentrates on eliminating disease. Healing is a sociocultural process. It focuses on restoring interpersonal, social, and spiritual dimensions. It‘s lengthy and ongoing because it‘s a process of becoming whole.
Any body who doesn‘t fit in a tidy box of cured or “normal” makes other people feel out of place.
Belonging shouldn‘t have the admission price of assimilation.
I wish I could be more than my diagnosis, more than a problem in need of fixing, as if my disability is only valuable if converted into a cure. I wish prayerful perpetrators were free from the lie that I am worth less simply because my body works differently.
All I need to be liberated from is the notion that disability is inherently deviant and in need of eradication.
Recent acquisition for our personal library.
#christianity #england #catholicism #anglicanism
pickDon Lemon is a gorgeous man! In each chapter, he discusses our current political hellscape and the religious woes infused with it. In this administration, each publish feels outdated because things are unraveling so fast. The author talks about what loving your country versus being a nationalist means, and speaks heavily about faith and empathy in action versus Christian Nationalism. Whether you are a religious person or not, this is an⬇️
