 By Brett MacDonald, Diocesan Intern What does it mean to love our neighbor as ourselves when that neighbor’s body or mind challenges our assumptions about what is “normal” or “complete”? July is Disability Pride Month and it invites us to consider this question. In response, I’d invite us to see disability not as a problem to be solved, but as a theological gift that helps the Church glimpse the mystery of God. Many traditions have linked the image of God (imago Dei) to traits like reason, autonomy, or moral capacity. But what happens when we tie dignity to abilities some people don’t possess to the same degree? Where does that leave those with intellectual or developmental disabilities? Theologian Warren Kinghorn warns that “capacity-based accounts of human dignity always fail individual human persons who do not display the capacities that are most valued.” 1 Rather than viewing the imago Dei as a quality that can be measured or marred, John Kilner emphasizes that it is an unchanging divine gift, and the standard to which humanity is progressively being conformed through the work of Christ and the Spirit. Kinghorn adds, “We are not said to be made in God’s image because we can think, because we can use language, because we can relate warmly to others, [or] because we can adhere to social norms and expectations… we are made in God’s image, rather, because God has created us so, in love.”2 In other words, we must realize humans bear God’s image not because of what we can do, but because of God’s unchanging love for us.3 Thus, human dignity rests not on any present resemblance to God but on God’s unwavering commitment to bring humanity into the fullness of that image. This means that disabled persons are not deviations from some imagined ideal of humanity. They are living witnesses to the diversity of God’s creative love. This truth shapes how we imagine resurrection hope. Too often, Christian visions of heaven assume that disability will be erased, as if perfection means able-bodiedness. But as Stanley Hauerwas remind us, to erase disability is to erase the person.4 Our resurrection hope is not about achieving some able-bodied ideal, but about being glorified in our full, particular selves. Like Christ’s risen body still bearing the scars of the cross (Luke 24), our bodies will bear the marks of our stories—transfigured in glory, not erased. If this is our hope, then the Church’s task is not simply to serve or accommodate disabled persons but to incorporate them as indispensable members of the Body. Disabled persons reveal the Church’s true nature as a community bound not by strength or achievement, but by unhurried love. Living this out means learning to love at a different pace. Our culture prizes speed, efficiency, and productivity. But as John Swinton writes, God’s love unfolds slowly. Time is best conceived,” he writes, “as an aspect of God’s love for the world.”5 Jesus, he observes, living in a society without motor vehicles, walked at three miles per hour—a pace that reflects not urgency but attentive presence. I am often reminded of this through my friendship with Alex, my roommate at Friendship House—an intentional Christian living community comprised of adults with and without intellectual disabilities. One evening, I was supposed to drive Alex, who has Down syndrome, to an event at a local Christian nonprofit that serves adults with disabilities called Reality Ministries. I was anxious to be on time, and as we prepared to leave, Alex kept stopping to chat with people. With each delay, my stress grew until I finally interrupted him: “Alex, we’ve really got to go if we want to be on time!” He looked at me, puzzled, and asked, “What’s the hurry?” I stammered, “We’re going to be late;” and he simply said, “We’ve got time.” In that moment, Alex revealed to me a different way of being, one where people matter more than schedules, where presence matters more than productivity. His friendship invited me into the unhurried nature of God’s love. Friendships like these don’t slow down the Christian life, rather, they are the Christian life. Disabled persons should not be seen merely as individuals in need of care. Instead, the Church must realize that disabled folks offer gifts that reconfigure the Church’s very understanding of itself. Disabled persons are not just welcomed so that abled-bodied Christians can serve them as a project or a charitable act; rather, they themselves are agents of God’s work who teach us how to be the Church. Disabled persons teach the Church not only how to care, but how to be: how to wait, how to rejoice, how to depend, and how to love without condition or measure. Disabled presence calls the Church to abandon worldly measures of worth, such as strength, efficiency, or productivity, and to embrace a community held together by love, dependence, and grace. In receiving these gifts, the Church learns more fully what it means to bear the image of God. Different ministries such as Reality, L’Arche, and Friendship House offer living models of this reality, where mutuality replaces hierarchy and the contributions of those with disabilities are received not according to worldly standards, but as revelations of God’s grace. Friendship with those the world too often overlooks teaches us to wait, to rejoice, to depend, and to love without condition. These friendships bear witness to the nature of God’s love and invite us to participate in it. As Amos Yong puts it, true friendship is not transactional or utilitarian; it is a gift of grace that disrupts our assumptions about value and teaches us how to receive one another as God’s beloved.6 Join us in celebrating disabled belovedness by attending the Disability Pride Parade in Durham Saturday, July 26th from 3:30PM – 6:30PM at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church. Sources: 1 Warren A. Kinghorn, Wayfaring: A Christian Approach to Mental Health Care (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024), 155. 2 Kinghorn, Wayfaring, 155. 3 John F. Kilner, Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God (Grand Rapids Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 114. 4 Stanley Hauerwas in The Deprived, the Disabled, and the Fullness of Life (Michael Glazier, 1984). 5 John Swinton, Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness, and Gentle Discipleship, Studies in Religion, Theology, and Disability (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2018), 58. 6 Amos Yong, The Bible, Disability, and the Church: A New Vision of the People of God (Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2011), 114. Links for more information:
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