From A Momma's Heart...

Dear Friends,

I am excited to share an article from the heart of one of my dear friends, Jana.  We have been blessed to walk a journey together.  We have been able to walk a journey together that is different, challenging and rewarding every single day.  

She has helped me grow, she has been a cheerleader on the sidelines of my life, and she has shared her "momma's heart" with me.  Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.  Grab a few moments and think about what she said...

Deana

I was never excluded at my former church because my child had a disability, but looking back, I wasn’t terribly accommodated either.  It didn’t matter to me at the time, though.  Everyone seemed to accept my precious little girl with Down syndrome, and for that I was blessed.  They smiled at her, spoke positively about her, and for the most part, seemed to embrace her.  That was enough back then.  It felt good, and I was happy. 

Not until I moved to my current church did I realize what Lexi and I were truly missing.  Inclusion, compassion, and earnest consideration in an open-armed church community.  It is wonderful.  Not perfect, but wonderful.  And a beautiful gift full of grace, and mercy, and love.  In short, we belong…and multitudes of people work very hard to ensure that we do.  That means a lot.  Actually, it means more than a lot.  It means that to this group of holy servants, Lexi and her relationship with God matter.  With their willingness to be inclusive, they are proclaiming that she, and the spiritual journey she is on with her creator, are worthy of respect, devotion, and humble sacrifice from her fellow believers. Oh, how she needs this church body, and they her.  Both with something to offer, and neither as complete without the other.     

Who would guess, then, that many parents and their children with disabilities don’t feel as welcomed in America’s places of worship as we have? Who knew masses of struggling, desperate, and isolated families never have the red carpet rolled out for them, because their congregations are too stuck feeding into unfair fear?  Fear of the unknown, fear of change, and fear of little faces that may not look like their own.  We know it’s dangerous to put more value on outsides than insides, or be more concerned with personal comfort than providing comfort, but it happens everyday.  Even in the church.  In the case of disability, precious people of God are being cut out, left out, and pushed out.  And I don’t mean pushed out of a potluck dinner. I mean literally pushed out the door.  

Doors, mind you, that are supposed to be opened to us all.  Sinners, saints, and everyone in between.  Men, women, and children of every kind.  The doors aren’t supposed to close when someone different, diverse, or disabled walks through them.  In fact, the Bible teaches us that those who are different, diverse and disabled are really the ones for which God is saving a front row seat!  According to Jesus, they are the group He’s got His eye on.  To Him they are not the damaged and the doomed, they are the treasured and the adored.  Not marginalized, but magnificent.  He values them, He yearns for them, and He wants them to have an equal place at His table.  

A table, by the way, that is glorified, not diminished, by their presence. To Christ, the disabled are divine.  Fearfully and wonderfully made by His own masterful hands.  No mistakes involved.  Not a single one.  Knit perfectly in the womb, for perfectly planned out purposes.  He knew what His kingdom needed, and His kingdom needed “Lexis”. Lots of them.  Those who may have smaller hands, but bigger hearts.  Those with fragile limbs, but unbending faith. Those who have more love than hate, more wonder than worry, more innocence than ignorance, and more happiness than hurting.  Those who demonstrate triumph over suffering, and exude light out of darkness.  Those who rise above a fallen world because of exquisite souls made incapable of tethering to it.  God knew that if the world was to see His reflection, it would be best in those who were set apart.  The ones who in their weakness, only He could make strong.  The ones He calls the “least of these”, in which when we care to look, we see the “most” of Him.

What church would not want those who are the “most” of Him in their midst?  What group of believers would not want to rub elbows with angels?  Maybe many of our houses of God need to actually listen to God, and rethink a few things along the way.  In Luke 14:12, Jesus said to His host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Each and every Sunday Christ’s followers need to throw a banquet and invite the Lexis.  Not only is it right, it is rewarded. And besides, if God’s chosen won’t do it, who will?    

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.

Copyright 2011 Jana Palcer.  All rights reserved.