I recently flew to Chicago to the Covenant Church’s Midwinter Conference. I spoke from Luke 14 about Reimagining Church Life with Disability. I’ve now written or taught about that passage a dozen times, and yet every time I teach from it again, I understand new things about the portrait Jesus paints of the kingdom of God. As I said at Midwinter, “The people who don’t measure up to the world’s standards are the ones who make up the kingdom of God.”
Being at the conference itself, even for just a few hours, was a little glimpse into the unexpected, disruptive, beautiful kingdom of God here on earth. As it happened, the former youth pastor (Tamara Ravelo) of our former church, was at the conference.
She came up to me before I started speaking. To see a supportive and familiar face was a gift in itself, but then I got to tell her that I often speak about her role in Penny’s life. Tamara came to one of Penny’s person-centered planning meetings years ago. At the time, Penny was working on making appointments and phone calls, so Tamara said, “Penny can come to youth group early and order the pizza for the group.”
It was a really simple action. It didn’t take a lot of time or effort on Tamara’s part. It took something off our plate. It helped us know we weren’t alone. And it helped both Tamara and Penny grow in their relationship with each other. But when I told Tamara that I tell that story regularly, she said, “I think of Penny all the time. She was very formational to my development as a ministry leader. Now, I have a crew of young adults with disabilities that are very integrated into the life of our church. Having those years with her made me see that those with disabilities can contribute so much.”
Tamara gave us the gift of her love and care for Penny. We didn’t know that Penny gave Tamara—and the young men and women in Tamara’s future church—a glimpse of how the kingdom of God works in return.
On the podcast this week, I got to talk with Adrian Wood about her family’s experience within the public school system with her son Amos, who has autism. As with church, lots of us experience hardship and exclusion at school, but sometimes it goes well. I’m talking with Adrian about what has worked in their family’s relationship with their local public school.
Many aspects of life—church life, work life, school life—can feel really bleak for people with disabilities (and others who are on the margins of our society).
And yet small, simple offerings can cascade into real change, real relationships, and real beauty.
That’s my hope for our family and for yours, that we would connect to each other so that there are more Tamaras building relationships with kids like Penny, and more young adults contributing what they have to offer within their communities, and more parents who can imagine and work to create a positive, collaborative, and mutually beneficial educational environment for their children.
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