
Just as a body though one, has many parts but all its many parts from one body so it is with Christ…
The eye cannot say to the hand’ I don’t need you!… On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.
1 Corinthians 12:12-23
In India a few years ago, I was surprised to discover that if you are born without, or lost a hand, you were entitled to government benefits, but if you were blind in one eye you weren’t. Their rationale being that you can still see with the other eye, but only having one hand you were less likely to be offered work and thus be less able to support yourself and your family. A pragmatic approach to stem the obvious demand for government support in that part of the world to be sure, but not one that acknowledges the presence of the eye that is blind and its value to the person’s body as a whole, eg in providing symmetry and balance to a person’s face, as well as focusing support for the other eye.
Apply this example to our communities, where the tendency can be to make snap judgements about people, sometimes based on poor data and without proper consideration of what they bring to the group, we experience a similar result. We miss out on the unique gifting that God has provided to our community through that person. I know this to be true with my own spiritual gifts, which for many years went unrecognized and under-valued. Not least by me! It was all too easy for me to be a passive consumer of God’s gifts to me because nobody challenged me to discover a way of passing them on to others. Now many might say, including myself, that is fine because practicing spiritual gifts is reserved for those anointed, charismatic-types within a community, but not me. Not true!
God’s promise through the prophet Isaiah says, “He will not crash the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.” (Isaiah 42:3) In other words, God is making it clear that all people, especially those that look like they have nothing to give, are valuable for doing justice so that not only they will receive the full promise of God, but they will also be able to pass on this promise to others in whatever way they have been gifted to do so. Its not rocket science, but it does require attentive investment in those often overlooked in our communities.
REFLECT…
PRAY…
& STEP OUT
On playwright Neil Marcus‘s quote, “Disability is not a brave struggle or ‘courage in the face of adversity’. Disability is an art. It is an ingenious way to live.”
For creative approaches to change the mindset that says ‘disabled people don’t want salvation or are incapable of understanding enough to experience it.
If Jesus had showed up at your community activity this week, what clues would he have picked up but it was operating as the body of Christ?