Last year, after we returned from a week at Hope Heals Camp, I wrote that camp “is not a place where we lay out a message of salvation, but rather a place where we live out a message of belovedness and belonging.” Here we are, one year later, and again I am awed at the gentle, hidden, deep power of just a few days of life within an interability community.
At camp this year, I had the honor of presenting a series of talks from Jesus’ Beatitudes to the volunteers. The Beatitudes are Jesus’ proclamations of spiritual reality. They name unexpected spiritual truths, like, “The good life belongs to those who mourn…” and “You flourish when you are poor in spirit…” and “Blessed are the meek…”
I shared with the volunteers at the camp how those words could frame our time, and then I talked about what happens. I mentioned that if and as we live into Jesus’ words, three different things happen:
- We move from the way of payment to the way of blessing.
- We all are lifted up.
- We participate in God’s work in the world.
Our week at Hope Heals embodied all three of these truths, so I want to share a few stories to illustrate each of them.
1. We move from the way of payment to the way of blessing.
The “way of payment” is a transactional way of being in the world, where I work for a certain number of hours and get paid what I am owed for that labor. The way of payment isn’t necessarily bad. It’s just limited. And it quickly becomes hierarchical, with some people on top and others on bottom.
The “way of blessing” is a way of being in the world where I trust in the abundance of grace and love and mutual giving and receiving.
I saw this truth lived out when our son William told me about a conversation he had with another teenager about the talent show. “Are any of the acts actually good?” the other kid asked. William paused and then said, “That’s not the point.”
The point of the Hope Heals Talent Show is not to showcase the best singers or dancers or basketball players.
The point is to celebrate each other as we are. The point is a demonstration of the kind of love and acceptance that every one of us needs.
(Katherine Wolf says this simple event is one of the “most beloved, most profoundly life-giving parts of camp.” Watch these two minutes here and see why! Watch Penny’s full dance performance here.)
2. We are all lifted up.
This truth is lived out all week long, but the most concentrated glimpse of it for me came on the final night. We happened to have a constellation of incredibly gifted Christian musicians—Sandra McCracken, Ellie Holcomb, Byron House, Kristian Stanfill, Jeff and Jourdan Johnson—leading us in song. Soon, one young girl climbed up on stage with them. Then, a young boy climbed into Jeff’s lap at the piano. A few more joined in, including our daughter Penny.
There was no ego claiming a particular spot on that stage. No one needing to prove themselves worthy. In fact, having kids and young adults with intellectual disabilities leading us alongside award-winning artists only enhanced the experience. It was a moment of everyone being lifted up together. (Watch here)
3. We participate in God’s work in the world.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus describes the spiritual reality so many of us face: meekness, poverty of spirit, longing for justice and goodness in this world. And then, as soon as he finishes these statements, he goes on to say, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world…”
There’s a connection between these two sections. You—the very same ones who are bedraggled and humble and beaten up by life—you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. You are the ones who matter. You are the ones who go from this place and take a message, and live a message, of gentleness and kindness and unfailing love. You are the ones who enact the kingdom of God.
The Wonder of It
Katherine Wolf, co-founder of Hope Heals, described a few of the teenage boys who led the cheering at the talent show. She said, “Well, yes, that happened on planet Earth.”
That’s the wonder of it. Kindness, love, joy, compassion, beauty, goodness—they all can and do happen on planet earth. Even among teenage boys.
And we are all invited to trust in that abundant goodness and live out of that place of abundant blessing every day.
Let’s be clear—we came home from camp and had 24 hours of total crankiness with one another. William and I got sick. Peter apologized to the whole family for having a bad attitude. Everyone was out of sorts. And I can still imagine Jesus saying to each of us, “Yes, you—even when you are sick or cranky or rude—you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the beloved ones.”
Maybe you’re wondering if joy and beauty can happen not just on planet Earth, but within your family. If you’re a parent or a caregiver of a person with a disability, I’ve created a workshop just for you: Reimagining Family Life with Disability. Check it out and register today! And please share with a friend.
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MORE WITH AMY JULIA:
- LeBron James: “Being a Winner Is a Curse”
- The Good Life Belongs to the Ones who are Unimportant and Overlooked
- Penny in Her Own Words: Why Go to Hope Heals Camp?
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