Celebrating weakness

A brief reflection on disability, independence & identity, originally written as an entry for Theology Slam 2018.

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139 is my favourite psalm, and yet, this truth can be hard to hold onto in the midst of the frustration, pain and suffering from disabilities. One of my biggest frustrations is that I’m often not as independent as I’d like to be, or feel I should or think I am expected to be. Communities, including churches, place expectations and aspirations on us that we “should be independent”. When we are not as independent as the world tells us we should be, we can wonder “Who am I?”

The Apostles’ Creed proclaims our faith in “God, the Father Almighty” and “in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord” and “in the Holy Spirit”. The Nicene Creed teaches that Jesus Christ is “of one Being with the Father”, and the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”. Our creeds teach that God is Trinity –one eternal God in three divine persons. God is, and has always been, community, and humans are created in the image of God. To be created in the image of God, who by His nature is community, is for ourselves to be beings created to be in community –with God and with one another.

“Identity” is a complex concept. Our identity is formed through our story, how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. Our society rarely sees beauty in the bodies of people with physical disabilities. Many people with disabilities have reacted to this by seeking to proclaim themselves as ‘different’ rather than broken, or weak. Disability is perceived so negatively that even those of us with disabilities avoid the word, or seek to emphasise the ability. And yet, the radical thing about the Christian faith is that our creeds affirm that the Son of God was crucified, died and was buried, that he gave up his power and strength, and made Himself nothing, so that we could be reconciled to God and brought into community. God’s victory over sin and evil is won in the reverse of what the world expects–through weakness rather than strength, shown first in Christ and then in His Body, the Church. Human weakness provides the space in which the power of the Spirit can move in the world in which we live. We also know that we are one Body, with many parts, some strong and some weak, but all important and needed, and indeed Paul writes that “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable”. God did not create us to be independent, but rather, to be dependent on Him and interdependent on one another. We can celebrate one another’s gift of weakness, enabling the Church to rely on God. By celebrating their gift of disability, rather than trying to deny or fix brokenness, Christians give a powerful witness to our God who’s “strength is made perfect in weakness”, a radical message to a world seeking and celebrating human strength and power.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections on this.