understanding
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Posted on November 8, 2011, 2:50 am
When we offer help to someone we can have the crazy notion that we need to fix the whole issue ourselves. We would do more for those we offer assistance if we understood our role as referring folks to the resources of our broader community, without abandoning them.
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Posted on March 22, 2011, 8:11 am | 3 comments
Topics: Caring
I had an odd thought today. At least, it seems like an odd thought for a guy who views life from a wheelchair. Is it possible that I’m too dismissive about the issue of following Jesus as a person with a disability?
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Posted on November 16, 2010, 1:22 pm | 3 comments
Topics: Leadership Development
But then the shrouded heavens parted and the spirit of a dove descended from the clouds. It fluttered to a tiny, empty parking spot on the curb leading into the observatory grounds. A monk choir began echoing hymns all around us, and a beam of sunlight illuminated this small opening between the cars. Suddenly...
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Posted on April 20, 2010, 8:47 am | 4 comments
Topics: Accessibility
Every year at Christmastime, to my great pleasure, my wife gives me a puzzle-a-day calendar. Recently, one of the puzzles substituted each word in a familiar proverb with a rhyming word. The puzzle was to guess the proverb. For example, “Many guys sound ghoulish,” becomes “Penny wise, pound foolish.” Another was “Sniff a true wit’s bare pit.” Know the proverb? I’ll tell you the answer at the end of this post.
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Posted on March 29, 2010, 1:53 pm
Topics: Pastoral Care
Among the vulnerable in any congregation are people who through loss of health have diminished capabilities. Many times their limitations confine them to home or a nursing home. To care for them requires discerning ears and gentle words. In this article, Karen Mulder and Ginger Jurries share helpful pointers in our journey of care.
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Posted on March 16, 2010, 1:07 pm
Topics: Advocacy
The Olympic Spirit seeks "to build a peaceful and better world in the Olympic Spirit which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play . . . " No games better exemplify the Olympic Spirit than the Paralympics. See results from the winter Paralympics which ran from March 12 - 21 in Vancouver.
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Posted on March 10, 2010, 8:33 am
Topics: Advocacy
Our language about people, and the way we treat people, to a large extent forms who people are. Athlete, actor, model, and bilateral below-the-knee amputee, Aimee Mullins reflects on language and her own experiences in this lecture. For those of us who believe in the power of the Word, we need to take seriously the power of our words as well.
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Posted on February 2, 2010, 3:41 pm
Topics: Hospitality
While leading a worship service I encouraged the congregation to think about ways to make people with disabilities feel welcome. I praised them for several things they were doing well, and I pointed out several areas for improvement such as making pew cutouts for people who use wheelchairs. After the service, one man defended his church, “If someone comes in a wheelchair, he can sit in the front.”
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