During that session, it dawned on me how sustainability, agriculture, and taking care of immigrants and refugees are connected. Things I deeply care about and felt there was some strong relatedness that I couldn’t really get at, and that I’d like to be involved with but not quite sure how they all fit. Seeing how sustainable agriculture can bless the marginalized and give dignity to farmers and their communities was very encouraging.
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Me too. I’ve started listening and like what I’m hearing. The part I’m looking forward to hearing is how the increase in human population is making sustainable agriculture and caring for people and animals at the margins more and more difficult to achieve. As important as it is to parent well it is also important to change expectations that everyone will raise a family.
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Yes, and I can see family size being a very difficult topic for the church. There seem to be good long-term answers like education for women and family planning, but the short term impacts need attention and mitigation, such as social security, elder care, and a possible drop in psychological care for families. (Any family structure deserves psychological support, but raising humans necessitates support where not having children requires support of a different kind, IMO.)
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What worries me is that all my Christian relatives seem to regard raising a family as almost a duty as well as a kind of right of passage. The message from Jesus “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain" doesn’t seem to show the same sensitivity toward cultivating resources which the first speaker spoke of in relation to farming.
My fear is that, certainly among my relatives, worries about preserving resources and working within what nature provides are out weighed by their expectation that the curtain will go down any moment when Jesus returns and all will be made new again. I realize of course that their theological understanding is not necessary to Christianity but it certainly seems to be prominent.
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I agree with you there. From within evangelism and discipleship ministries, the focus shifts the fruit from sons and daughters to anyone, since most of the “targets” (to put it bluntly) are not married with kids. The sessions about environment, disability, and diversity follows that example that the movement of God’s Kingdom is inclusive and interdependent. I appreciate the balance, because that’s where I see God’s glory demonstrated in the world and in God’s image bearers. Although I do appreciate strong children’s and families ministries, because without them it would be difficult for us to make it to church and get plugged in, even though we are motivated to do so and make it a priority.
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Another busy day with little time to read and write. And I still haven’t finished Catherine Hayhoe’s talk. It reminds me of a Language of God podcast (maybe this one: Podcast S1E4 - Faith & Soil ), where one of the guests mentioned that to be an environmentalist, one is perpetually grieving what other people don’t notice.
I grew up swimming in Lake Huron (Michigan side) starting in the early '70s, paddling around under water with my eyes open, not able to see my sister a foot away through the rich, jade green water. In my early teens we started hearing a lot about zebra muscles. Now people marvel at the beautiful, clear water. I weep.
It’s spring time here, and I’m enjoying an abnormally normal spring. Gloom, unpredictable changes, snow. then sun, then cold, slashing rain. We have far too many pretty springs here now. “Look at the pretty flowers all over the yard.” But that’s not how it is supposed to be.
Maybe I need to skip to the hopeful part of Hayhoe’s talk. Awareness of the problem is already stifling.
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Oldest Kid was home from college this weekend, and I’d been saving the “Disability, Dignity and The Image of God” session to watch with her and Youngest Kid, since they both have interest. Here are a few (edited for clarity) quotes that I found powerful:
We realize that if you’re not part of the disability community now, if you live long enough, at some point you will become a part of that community.
Talking with my mom, who will soon be 89, I see that she never considered this reality. I suspect, because, at my age, she really had never seen anything like the numbers of people who live to be older now. At that time, someone her (current) age was really exceptional. My generation is faced constantly with the reality of this statement, however.
The Social Model of disability does not view disability simply as an impairment to be managed by medical intervention but rather a more complex understanding of the ways in which society’s narratives about disability are more disabling than the actual biological impairment…
We no longer hide away most people with disabilities in “special” schools and institutions. But we don’t have good skills to make sure “everyone is included.” Our short-sightedness can actually make things worse.
The Social Model helps us to understand that there is a social component in addition to perhaps some of the medical and physical components. The challenge of being disabled is a challenge that requires whole scale societal and environmental changes. The management of disability is a social responsibility and therefore should be seen as an issue of human dignity and human rights. … So for churches and faith communities and faith-based organizations this means including disability in our discussions about diversity, dignity and justice.
I have much to say on this, that I will spare you from. In short, though, I will say, “Right on!”
Churches that I consult with [ask about ways] to create long lasting and systemic change. [The best way] is to find ways to place persons with disabilities and their families in positions of real leadership in the church. [Y]ou can often tell an organization’s commitment to diversity by whom it allows to lead. [O]ne of the things that we often see in the church is we want to do ministry for persons with disabilities and we have lacked the creative imagination to do ministry with persons with disabilities. [S]ome of the barriers that continue to exist in the church are because … ideas of what church should look like and feel like and sound like were constructed…by all the same type of minds. … You have persons with [disabilities] at the table and those persons will help you reshape and reimagine what church and what ministry should look like.
This part is key, and it doesn’t only apply to the matter of persons with disabilities. Any true open society’s leadership must fully reflect the diversity of that society. Otherwise we are simply maintaining power structures and “managing” the other.
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This was the most memorable quote of the session for me. A good reminder that inclusion isn’t about noticing charity cases you previously ignored, it’s about seeing everyone as part of the body with something to offer the whole.
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And it brings up how as a church we can best help everyone, including those so challenged, find their place of service.
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The round table session was a stark example for me. I was at the “women in science” table first, and we got to hear from Roseanne Sension, which opened up a window I’d never understood. At the next table, we discussed disability in the church, and @HRankin quite literally made a place for me, and invited others. I could share my experience, felt heard, and was grateful for input. It was incredible that I could be vulnerable because I’ve wondered over the past couple of years if church has given me trust issues with church. We were all welcomed in a way, given a place and allowed our voices, and we could be vulnerable and challenged. This puts hope in perspective, and this demonstrates fellowship. It was unlike the assimilation I experience at regular church, where fitting in and being assured I’m on the right team used to make me feel good and that I had eternal significance. But being given a place within invites healing. Because I was able to experience this with the church, maybe it’ll become easier when God says ,”Did you eat from the tree I told you not to eat?” I know it’s safe to say “yes” instead of blaming a serpent.
I found the conference restorative, and I hope others did too 
On Saturday morning when we were invited to reflect during worship, I thought of kintsugi. And the hope Sandra Richter offered just by hearing my concern that I had shared with her, to which she extended compassion. What came next was Francis Collins’ web analogy, which to me looked a lot like the mended kintsugi bowl that Mako showed a picture of the previous day! The voices that followed were pieces of the bowl themselves, as well as the gold that restores. They weren’t just preached or taught, it happened.
In short, the conference spoke some powerful things while demonstrating those things. And I have hope as well as a thread to follow to continue in that way.
So thank you to everyone who participated, I think is what I’m saying 
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Great insights, Paige. I too felt the round-table discussions were valuable and fun, though too short. I could have spent a morning on the one with medical issues. Covid played havoc with plans, I assume. I think more breakouts and round-tables were on the initial schedule, but it was just too uncertain ahead of time to schedule more. Maybe next session. Or maybe if demand is high, an off year mini-session focused on round-tables and an emphasis on seeing nature might be a possibility. I would certainly be interested.
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What did they say about disability?
We had discussion questions, available about how the church can better serve and be served by those in the disabled community. We recommend listening to Lamar Hardwick’s conference talk on this topic for more information.
Our own discussion was mostly centered around @KateKnut’s own experiences, and I also got to snuggle her baby. 
I’m so jealous!
I would love to know about the round tables. I don’t think those made it to the virtual conference.
Feel free to PM me, if you’d prefer.
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It was certainly wonderful to hear from Lamar Hardwick amongst Christians. Usually, there’s a misunderstanding and an eternal consequence attached. I think the point I tried to make at the round table was that churches have been accommodating physical handicaps, but teachers and preachers (in my experience) don’t understand how a message impacts a neurodiverse congregation.
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I used disability generally there, referring to the segment that Lamar Hardwick led, Disability, Dignity, and the Image of God. I only represent my brand of ADD and it’s co-morbidities, which to me is only disabling in the socio-cultural sense. Tension resides where church communities believe they are only biblical and not influenced by anything sociological or psychological (because that sounds like science). But it makes me wonder how much we’re (the church communities I’ve experienced) missing out on the humans that make up the church because we’re only ok with them being there to look like diversity, without their full inclusion.
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And not just that the church misses out on the different members, but that lack of wholehearted inclusion hurts the individuals who are meant to strengthen the church with the very qualities they’re likely ostracized (or just under appreciated) for.
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Gee, I think Paul might have addressed that. Sounds vaguely familiar. 
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