This morning’s readings focused on repentance and following after God. We saw how the disciples left their fishing nets to become fishers of people and how Jesus gave them a new identity in him (Mark 1). We also saw how even the most evil nation on earth was not beyond God’s salvation and how repentance changed God’s mind about their fate (Jonah 3),
The psalm reminded us that
Psalm 62:5
For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
But what of those with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease? What of those who acquire a neurological dysfunction or are born with one? How are they to respond? How are they to belong? Where does our theology reach them in an age where the solution appears to be to end life or not even allow it to start?
I believe our hope is in silent waiting, in the peace that passes all understanding, God’s gift to us in Jesus.
A worldview driven by the demands the clock makes on the lives of those with dementia or profound neurological and intellectual disabilities seems pointless.
And yet, Jesus comes to the world to transform time. Jesus calls us to slow down, take time, and learn to recognize the strangeness of living within God’s time. He calls us to be gentle, patient, kind; to walk slowly and timefully with those whom society desires to leave behind.
Becoming Friends of Time
Disability, Timefullness, and Gentle Discipleship
By John Swinton
To helps us think about this why not listen to
John Swinton on Homebrew Christianity
Or read John Swinton’s Book Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness, and Gentle Discipleship Paperback – 31 Jan 2017
Reblogged this on M Emlyn Humphries.