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| Image by James Wheeler |
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The body living with disability.
A GREETING
Oh God, renew my joy,
keep my spirit steady and willing.
(Psalm 51:12)
A READING
While Jesus was delivering God’s word to them, some people arrived bringing a paralyzed person. The four who carried the invalid were unable to reach Jesus because of the crowd, so they began to open up the roof directly above Jesus. When they had made a hole, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed one was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the sufferer, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the religious scholars were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does Jesus talk in that way? He commits blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus immediately perceived in his spirit that they reasoned this way among themselves and said to them, “Why do you harbor such thoughts? Which is easier, to say to this paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, pick up your mat and walk’? But so you all may know that the Promised One has authority on earth to forgive sins—” Jesus then turned to the paralyzed person— “I tell you, stand up! Pick up your mat and go home.”
(Mark 2:3-11)
MUSIC
Gaelynn Lea is an acclaimed and award-winning American folk artist. She draws from Celtic traditions and accompanies herself on the violin, playing it like a cello, by supporting it with her feet. She also works with a looping pedal, which layers in rich textures of sound.
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
I put my trust in you, O God;
I say, “You are my God!”
(Psalm 31:14)
A POEM
The Infinite a sudden Guest
Has been assumed to be —
But how can that stupendous come
Which never went away?
- "On the Paradox of Advent" by Emily Dickinson
VERSE OF THE DAY
You let me lie down in green meadows;
you lead me beside restful waters:
you refresh my soul.
(Psalm 23:2-3a)
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| "Unbalance. Tipping Point," by Lucy Jones (2022). UK artist Jones lives with cerebral palsy. For over three decades she has been creating self-portraits which recently were collected and shown in London. She has written that her paintings are meant to confront expectations of disabled bodies. The figures in her images are often positioned as floating or occupying unique relationship to space within the frame. |
For these next two weeks, we will reflect on how the body can help to shape and present identity. We will also sit with some of the difficult stories of scripture to hear their deeper meanings.
In today's reading, a man who cannot walk is carried to Jesus by his friends. The house is too full for them to enter, so they climb onto the roof, break it open, and lower him down into the room. Their effort is the first place of activism: the agency of the friends is to create their own path to Jesus. Faced with thick crowds, they find an alternative way. It is a scene full of determination and care. Before anything has been requested, the story shows us a community that refuses to leave someone outside. Even before the actions of Jesus, the man was not alone or unaccompanied.
When Jesus sees the group before him, he acknowledges their agency by publicly changing the narrative of expectation. It can sound challenging to us in our own time for Jesus to relate the disability to sin. However, Jesus seems to want to disrupt this very assumption. The tension in the room does not come from the condition of the man's body, but from those who question Jesus’ authority to transform. In the end, the first restoration that happens is relational. Jesus confirms that all who are there belong in the room.
In today's music, there is also a kind of opening — a widening of the room. Gaelynn Lea and her song "Moments of Bliss" invite us to recognize how much wholeness is not the same as sameness, and that beauty lives in bodies that do not fit the world’s expectations. Gaelynn Lea has found a way to adapt the violin to better meet the gifts from God that she has been given. She shifts our worldview and we are invited to hear with new ears.
How can this story teach us to carry others and allow ourselves to be carried? How can we make space in our hearts and in our world for every voice to sing its moment of bliss?
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| Image by James Wheeler |
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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!