Nancy speaks of the church as a “city on a hill”, that is inaccessible and inhospitable for the disabled community. In trying to “accommodate” the presumed needs of the disabled, the church has ultimately isolated (and silenced?) them even further. Nancy Eiesland uses the example of the taking part of the Eucharist. In serving her the Eucharist to better serve her “needs”, the church transforms the experience into a solitary one, different from the experiences of the other members in church. Though their intentions are good, Nancy argues that perhaps the disabled community does not need to be charity cases for the able-bodied (Christians especially, who often feel the need to extend their case to the less privileged). This behavior, this attitude can be attributed at least in part to the Biblical references to the disabled as linked with sin or impurity. The lepers in the Bible were untouchable, they had been cast out and were not the people high priests or moral people associated with. The blind men and the paralyzed shared similar fates. Then Jesus comes along and he passes his hand over them, tells them to sin no more and to “get up and walk”. Effectively, a link between healing and salvation is also established. In being taught to walk in the way of Christ, many Christians feel the urge to stretch out their helping hand to those who seem to “need” it in order to see the light.
Nancy’s biggest conflict with her disability was with the belief that people had, that she should not lament too much now about her suffering for God will redeem her body and make it whole again once the time comes. She had come to know God, to experience his glory and grow her faith through her body. What would it be like to have a different body? What would it mean or feel like to be separated from the body that had been the source of her knowledge of God? Her revelation came as imaging God disabled, then realizing that Christ was the embodiment of this image. Christ, who had temporarily given up the advantages of divinity to experience the limitedness of the human condition, was disabled. His body on earth was ripped apart and broken for us. The Eucharist itself is a remembrance and a celebration of the broken body of Christ. In thinking about God this way, the disabled community can find new light and liberation in realizing that God understands what it is like to have a “broken body”.
Encountering the Disabled God - Nancy Eiesland
A penny for your thoughts?
- When speaking about the resurrection of the body as new and perfect upon Christ’s return to earth, what does this mean for the “disabled” community? Do you think they will retain their physical incapacities? And if they retain them, what does this mean for us in thinking about the brokenness of the body?
- Is there a proper way for the disabled community to be treated, for example in context of the church? (Eg. If attending to them personally is exclusive as Nancy says, would it be "better" to have them go forward themselves? - What should the approach be?)
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