*Due to the 1st century authorship of this weeks excerpt from scripture, there is some ableist imagery invoked.
Just as slavery, sex trade, stoning, and arranged marriage are no longer acceptable, neither is ableism. To give context, but not excuses I will have notes on how and why this ableism is present along with a short reflection on how to approach mine own, and others ableism without internalizing it further into your own beliefs.
[{Trigger Warning}] Blind Ableism
Thank you for reading, and may grace and peace be multiplied unto you.*
Just as slavery, sex trade, stoning, and arranged marriage are no longer acceptable, neither is ableism. To give context, but not excuses I will have notes on how and why this ableism is present along with a short reflection on how to approach mine own, and others ableism without internalizing it further into your own beliefs.
[{Trigger Warning}] Blind Ableism
Thank you for reading, and may grace and peace be multiplied unto you.*
John 9:13-34
Since my faith crisis in my late teens, I have undergone a massive shift in faith. Gone are the prescriptions and clean edges. Gone is my ability to box the world in and claim mastery over. Gone is my certainty. Gone are the easy days of childish faith and dogma. � In return I have been given something better. Something I wouldn’t trade for the world. Security in God. No matter what, I had the holy spirit, the scriptures, and my experience in the world all to guide me.
So I began a journey that would lead me down the very hard path, not because I was mad at the church or God, because I loved and trusted them both so deeply I stepped off the boat, storm surrounding me, and walked.
I won’t pretend it was easy. It was and continues to be, the hardest thing I have ever done. I have stumbled. I have suffered. I have been pained. I have grieved and wept more times than I can count or remember.
I have also cause stumbling. I have been the abuser. I have been wrong, more times than any one can know.
But i thank God for that pain, for without it, and without him I would never have come to see all that I do now. A plank was in my eye, and now I daily work to remove it.
When I returned to the church in which i grew up, I found resistance. It wasn’t until years later i was able to realize why. They were contentedly, lovingly, dogmatically, assuredly, growingly certain. I would never be again.
Now when I meet someone like them they are often baffled at first. They may ask questions and debate, they may view me as a curiosity, but this never stays. Eventually it always comes to a point where they no longer view me as a contemporary. They broach that single heavy question, and i know our relationship may be coming to an end. “But are you saved?”
When I inevitably explain that this phrase is as meaningless as asking me if I feel heat from the sun, that I believe the healing power of Christ calls all men at all times to healing, when I explain that we all reject and accept this call daily in minute small actions, when I explain that we must work the works of He who sent Christ, they revile.
They ask was this not the same child who grew up reading his Bible every day for more than a decade? Does he not know he speaks heresy, and that his salvation is in jeopardy?
For they are the orthodox, they know The Truth, they hold all of Gods words. So certain are these pharisees that i am wrong. I have not even the certainty to think I might be right, and yet they ask for a declaration with more meaning than I have ever seen.
I can but muster the “one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
So I began a journey that would lead me down the very hard path, not because I was mad at the church or God, because I loved and trusted them both so deeply I stepped off the boat, storm surrounding me, and walked.
I won’t pretend it was easy. It was and continues to be, the hardest thing I have ever done. I have stumbled. I have suffered. I have been pained. I have grieved and wept more times than I can count or remember.
I have also cause stumbling. I have been the abuser. I have been wrong, more times than any one can know.
But i thank God for that pain, for without it, and without him I would never have come to see all that I do now. A plank was in my eye, and now I daily work to remove it.
When I returned to the church in which i grew up, I found resistance. It wasn’t until years later i was able to realize why. They were contentedly, lovingly, dogmatically, assuredly, growingly certain. I would never be again.
Now when I meet someone like them they are often baffled at first. They may ask questions and debate, they may view me as a curiosity, but this never stays. Eventually it always comes to a point where they no longer view me as a contemporary. They broach that single heavy question, and i know our relationship may be coming to an end. “But are you saved?”
When I inevitably explain that this phrase is as meaningless as asking me if I feel heat from the sun, that I believe the healing power of Christ calls all men at all times to healing, when I explain that we all reject and accept this call daily in minute small actions, when I explain that we must work the works of He who sent Christ, they revile.
They ask was this not the same child who grew up reading his Bible every day for more than a decade? Does he not know he speaks heresy, and that his salvation is in jeopardy?
For they are the orthodox, they know The Truth, they hold all of Gods words. So certain are these pharisees that i am wrong. I have not even the certainty to think I might be right, and yet they ask for a declaration with more meaning than I have ever seen.
I can but muster the “one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
“Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Amen
Source
This weeks reflection came from my following of the United Methodist Church lectionary calendar. The calendar can be found at UMCDiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar
The verses provided are 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41
This weeks reflection came from my following of the United Methodist Church lectionary calendar. The calendar can be found at UMCDiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar
The verses provided are 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41
Notes and After thoughts
Thank you so much for reading the first of very many my reflections! If you have any questions comments, or critiques, or suggestions for future reflections please leave them below, and if you enjoyed it throw me a like!
Thank you so much for reading the first of very many my reflections! If you have any questions comments, or critiques, or suggestions for future reflections please leave them below, and if you enjoyed it throw me a like!
Ableism
In 1st century Israel, and indeed most the world, the blind, deaf, hard of hearing, and many many others were relegated to the fringes. In this time frame it was considered an amazing act of mercy and compassion heal someone of these things. Now however we know these things to be vital and a defining aspect of someones culture or identity. These people are whole without us, they function without us, and despite us. For more on this please message me and we will discuss this at length with a reading list to share.
In 1st century Israel, and indeed most the world, the blind, deaf, hard of hearing, and many many others were relegated to the fringes. In this time frame it was considered an amazing act of mercy and compassion heal someone of these things. Now however we know these things to be vital and a defining aspect of someones culture or identity. These people are whole without us, they function without us, and despite us. For more on this please message me and we will discuss this at length with a reading list to share.
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