Russell Moore has a tremendous response to the outrage this week over Susan G. Koman Foundation for the Cure and Planned Parenthood in his Christianity Today article, The Pink Ribbon and the Dollar Sign.
I was particularly grateful that he included disability:
But what we have is greater than that. We have a word that tells a pregnant young woman that we believe her Down Syndrome baby is a gift, not a health care burden. And we can offer the kind of gospel that cleanses the conscience and offers what outlasts money and power: life and that to the uttermost.
We look at the issue of disability, disease and suffering almost every day here, and I am grateful for others who have that same emphasis.
But the larger change in the church and eventually the culture comes when disability is part of the common story, when people see it everywhere and not just as a special emphasis.
Especially when, as Dr. Moore did, they rightfully refer to all people as gifts and not burdens.
I’m especially encouraged by your statement, “But the larger change in the church and eventually the culture comes when disability is part of the common story, when people see it everywhere and not just a special emphasis”. Even though I am homebound due to severe environmental illness, this has been the passion of my heart for the past 10 years. I attempted to begin a disability ministry at my local church when I could still attend. When I had to step down because of the worsening of my health & stop attending church, the small ministry went by the wayside because the passion in my heart hadn’t transferred to others yet. Since being home, I’ve had to take my broken heart to the Lord for it’s own repairs. Yet, this passion for disability ministry never was snuffed out. So I am praying big prayers for a big need to a big GOD who keeps showing this broken & weak daughter a big LOVE! My prayers go beyond my church needing this to the body of Christ at large, which of course means you & your work at Bethlehem. I have been so blessed reading your blog as it helps me to not feel so alone in my prayers, hopes, & passion for the very things you & the disability team have there.