Amazing Gifts - A Book Review

Faith communities love stories, particularly stories of success. Teachers, preachers, advocates, administrators tell and retell stories of faithful struggle and faithful achievement to inspire us, to instruct us in what is possible, to invite us further on our own faithful journeys as individuals, families, and faith communities. Mark Pinsky has collected a volume of such faithful stories about disability and full inclusion from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Unitarian Universalist communities and families.

"Many religious interpretations, cultures, and personal beliefs hold onto the hope that everything would be perfect if people would just become perfect. No one wants to believe that it's really out of our control. Trials are for spiritual purification, and the Koran states that no one can attest that they are believers without that faith being tried. But God does not curse people with diseases because they or their loved ones are 'bad.' Islamic liturgy doesn't refer to disabilities in this way." - Laila, "The Right to Kindness and Charity" in Amazing Gifts

Amazing Gifts is structured with three sections of stories, defined by who is telling the story: Empowering People and Congregations, Ministry by People with Disabilities, and Family Members in Ministry. Each section may be read and studied on its own, but together they invite us all into imagining a radically inclusive world of transforming love.

"Let us take a hard look as Jews and see who is not in our midst. Who is not sitting next to us in a synagogue service or a Jewish community event because they have no way of getting there?...Who cannot read our prayer books because synagogues have not purchased large print or Braille prayer books? Who cannot hear our lessons, meetings, or sermons without special equipment or an ASL interpreter? Who is not participating in a family simcha because they cannot get up to the bimah..." - Rabbi Lynne Landsberg

Small groups could easily pursue one section at a time over the course of a year, sharing what they learn and imagine with their faith communities, and exploring building faithful ministries that include everyone. All the stories will leave readers wanting to know more, a yearning we can turn toward our own work of acceptance and inclusion.

"Question surrounding disability bring us close to the heart of theology and ethics...Sometimes God asks a congregation what it's made of." - Rev. Samuel Wells, Dean, Duke University Chapel

Sometimes faith communities struggle to imagine ministry by people with disabilities. The section of stories included in Amazing Gifts will invite those faith communities to hopeful new understanding and imagining new possibilities. Living with disability - as with other life circumstances - can grow us in faith and strengthen, or even make possible, certain ministries. Rev. Barbara Meyers, EqUUal Access Board Member, observes in Amazing Gifts,

"Having a mental illness has been an invaluable asset to me in working with others with mental illnesses. There is something about being with someone who has had similar experiences that is very powerful...This is especially powerful when a peer can see you as being able to live a successful life. Just by your presence, you convey that there is hope for them."

Pinsky concludes with theological summaries of why faithful communities are called to be communities of all people, open and accessible, inclusive and celebratory, enduring and changing. Pinsky also admits there are a lot of hard stories, stories that disappoint, that teach us about unfaithfulness, and many more stories that are not yet finished, that we are in the middle of living.

"Learning how to recognize the gifts and talents of children and adults with disabilities can transform congregations and their leaders." - Mark I. Pinsky, "Conclusion"

Unitarian Universalists will particularly want to attend to the stories related by the Rev. Robin Gray and the Rev. Barbara Meyers, included, respectively under Empowering People and Congregations and Ministry By People With Disabilities. Rev. Gray tells of different congregations she has served and the decisions they made to be accessible and inclusive. Rev. Meyers speaks about her Mental Health Ministry and how it has made a real difference in people's lives, including her own.

What faithful stories of inclusion, accessibility, and ministries through and with disabilities do you have? Who is not able to participate and give now and what can you and your community do to address that? What is going on in your faith community that bears witness and hope that every one matters and has gifts to give?

Review written by Rev. Naomi King, EqUUal Access' host on Twitter and teaching pastor with City of Refuge Ministries.