*RESOURCE PACKET ON DISABILITY, SPIRITUALITY, AND HEALING

By The Rev. Nancy Lane, Ph.D., May, 1999
NOTE: All material unless otherwise stated is copyrighted by The Rev. Nancy Lane, Ph.D.

Table of Contents

Author’s Background

The Rev. Nancy Lane received the Ph.D. in Religion and Psychology from The Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, and was a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, England, where she studied the meaning of healing and suffering. Dr. Lane received the Master of Divinity from Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, N.Y., and a B.A. in Religion from Wells College, Aurora, N.Y.

Ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1984, she served as a diocesan staff officer and Director of the Office of AccessAbility for the Diocese of Central New York. Dr. Lane later became the Executive Director of Disability Awareness: An Empowering Ministry. She is known as an national and international speaker on issues of accessibility and disability in the Church and the community, and delivered papers before the World Council of Churches Congress in the Netherlands, the W.C.C. Consultation on Religion and Disability in Uruguay, and the International Congress on Pastoral Care and Counseling in Australia. She has lectured at numerous colleges, seminaries, and conferences within the ecumenical community and for many secular organizations, including medical schools. Dr. Lane has also preached and led workshops in several hundred churches across America. For many years she has led a retreat for people with disabilities on the Spirituality of Living with a Disability at Kirkridge Retreat Center in Bangor, Pa.

Dr. Lane is a Jungian-based psychologist, with expertise in treating women with disabilities, battered women and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She is also trained in Spiritual Direction.

Dr. Lane has written a number of articles on the spirituality of living with disability and is author of a book on the spiritual and theological implications of the abuse of power toward women with disabilities.

Introduction

The Rev. Nancy Lane, Ph.D.

The materials in this resource book have arisen from my fifteen years of ministry concerned with the inclusion of people with disabilities in the Christian church. Consequently, the resources reflect a Christian perspective. However, I believe that people of other faiths can use some of the resources as springboards for exploring the issues of disability and accessibility in their faith community. Further, it is not necessary to be a Christian to be engaged in theological reflection on the issues of healing and suffering, the meaning of life, and the presence or absence of God in our experiences.

As noted in the page devoted to the Author’s Background, my academic studies and my professional experiences have been devoted to the theological, spiritual, biblical, hermeneutical, psychological, and practical aspects of the experience of disability. I have read extensively on the issues of healing and suffering as they relate to living as a human being in general and to living with a disability or chronic illness in particular. As a Christian and an ordained priest I have found deep meaning in the life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As a psychologist I find that these are also powerful symbols of the spiritual journey toward healing and transformation even if one is not a Christian. Thus, you will find the themes of suffering, death, transformation, healing and resurrection running through the materials in this book.

I also have the experience of living with cerebral palsy since my birth. This experience has been rich with the blessings of those who see and accept me as a person who is also gifted and able. Life has been blessed with loving parents, two lovely daughters, and life-long friends. I have been able to achieve most of my goals—from being a pianist, a dancer, a serious cook and gastronome, mother and grandmother—to being a scholar, a writer, and a priest of the Church. Nevertheless, I have also encountered years of discrimination and exclusion in and by the institutional church. In my early work as a diocesan staff officer and in the years since then as a volunteer director for Disability Awareness, I answered hundreds of letters and calls from people with disabilities who have been excluded from the church because of negative attitudes, “victim theology” and architectural and communication barriers. They wrote of the spiritual wounds engendered by exclusion and despaired of God’s presence to them. Like them, I have had to wrestle with this same pain of exclusion—of being denied the sacraments, access to colleagues and a worshipping community, and prevented from being deployed as a priest for the last ten years. It was within this context that I eventually pulled together the material on “Spiritual Abuse” which is among the handouts. The materials gathered there show that my experience is not unusual; others have written about the pain of exclusion and have repeatedly called the church to become welcoming and inclusive. It is my hope that the resources included here will be used to open the mind, hearts, and doors of faith communities to people with disabilities.

Just as the experiences of discrimination and exclusion affect our journeys, so do the experiences of acceptance and affirmation. Whenever I give a workshop, lecture, or lead a retreat I find that my voice, my experiences, my gifts and abilities, and my life are affirmed. What I have learned through years of study and wrestling in prayer makes a difference to many people because it affirms their own experiences of living with limitations, disabilities, vulnerabilities, suffering, grace, healing, and faith. People thank me for putting their own experiences into words, for giving a name to the pain and anger of exclusion, for affirming that people still use biblical texts to blame them for their (or their child’s) disability. They thank me for affirming that a merciful and loving God does not condemn them.

Thus, the published articles, the articles “Victim Theology” and “Changing Attitudes, Creating Awareness” and the handouts arise out of my years and years of formal study, extensive correspondence, lectures and retreats, teaching, work as a psychotherapist, and my own experiences of exclusion and inclusion in the Church. Those of us who work in the field of Religion and Disability often write about how important it is for people with disabilities to tell their stories, and how equally important it is for people in the faith communities to hear and receive our stories. Our stories are a missing but significant part of the ongoing story of the history of God in creation and are a testament to what we can teach others about living in faith in the midst of the ambiguities of this life.

The handouts which are included in this resource are intended for both people with disabilities and people wanting to minister with them. The handouts are usually used in conjunction with my seminary course, workshops, retreats, or lectures. However, most of them can also stand alone as useful resources. The handouts on forgiveness were written in the context of the article A Theology of Anger When Living With a Disability. They are also useful in addressing the various issues outlined in The Grief Cycle. Many of the handouts also draw on years of reading in the classics of both western and eastern spirituality. This will be seen more specifically in the handouts which give a definition of healing and a definition of spirituality as used in my writing.

Included in this resource booklet is a revised syllabus of a course I taught recently at Union Theological Seminary in New York city. This was a two credit course, taught once a month for three months. Given the brevity of class time, there was not time to cover everything that needs to be covered for total ministry. I would add ethics to a full time course because of the continuing backlash against the ADA and the effects this is having on life and death decisions for people with disabilities. However, the syllabus does attempt to give students an introduction to ministry with people with physical and mental disabilities, including mental retardation. The syllabus and the annotated bibliography serve to provide an extensive reference guide for resources that are available to churches.

There were two very significant components to this course which verified once again the importance of narrative and the power of story-telling. One of the assignments was to select a healing (or miracle) story and exegete (explain) it from the perspective of the person being healed. Students made their presentations in class and nearly every one was a powerful example of what the ministry of Jesus must have been like for those whose lives were changed. The stories came to life as students spoke about their own experience with disability, praying for healing, and the disability remaining. Unlike listening to a sermon on the healing stories by preachers who have not examined disability or healing at a deep level, one did not go away feeling the healing ministry of Jesus was irrelevant today. The stories of my students were the biblical stories come to life and they changed each of us who heard them.

The second component of the course which involved story-telling was the final reflection paper, using the questions outlined. Students had to grapple with questions of suffering and how they would minister to or with someone who questions the meaning of life because of disability. Like the general population, students were in different places in terms of understanding suffering and in asking their own questions. It was very clear, however, that while the problem of suffering was a major issue in their thinking (and lives), few of them had found the means (or taken the time) to engage in deep theological reflection or reading on suffering. Yet, suffering is a fact of life, whether or not one is disabled. As future clergy persons, they will be called upon often to speak to the questions of “why?” or “how long?”

A persistent theological and biblical theme that affects people with disabilities and their families is that suffering, in whatever form, is “God’s will.” I have discussed this briefly in the article “Victim Theology,” where I have also mentioned how study of the suffering of God has been very helpful in attempting to understand the incomprehensible mysteries of suffering and evil in the world. Just as I will commend future divinity students to read further in the area of suffering and the suffering of God, I urge you, the reader, to do so as well. The reading may challenge you to expand your understanding of the images of God—images that teach us about the depth and breadth of a loving God who is present with each of us in suffering. The reading will also ask you to enter the mystery of suffering—where there may not be any answers but there will be transformation and strength for the continuing journey.

You will note that the articles and the handouts reflect the historical, biblical, psychological and medical distinction between cure and healing. Recent scientific studies on the bodymind/soul unity confirm this distinction. As you live with a disability or chronic illness or minister to those who do, reflect carefully on this distinction. When you pray for healing of your self or others, be open to what it means to be healed. The majority of people living with disability do not want or ask for “fixed” bodies; they pray for healing—of the wounds engendered by discrimination, the barriers of exclusion, the pain of abuse, and the negative attitudes of our communities and churches. One can live with a disability or chronic illness and know healing.

I pray that readers will find these resources of use in their own spiritual journey as well as in working to create an inclusive, welcoming, and accessible faith community.

Information on Reprints

This information package includes reprints that we are unable to produce here on our web site. You can obtain a complete copy of this information package by contacting Center on Human Policy.

The articles listed below are not available through the Center on Human Policy, but may be obtained in several ways. Journal articles may be obtained through your local library, or through the Interlibrary Loan service of your library, if the library does not own the journal in question.

  • Lane, N. J. (1993, September/October). Healing of bodies and victimization of persons: Issues of faith-healing for persons with disabilities. The Disability Rag ReSource, 11-13.
  • Lane, N. J. (1992, Winter). A spirituality of being: Women with disabilities. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 23(4), 53-58.
  • Lane, N. J. (1995). A theology of anger when living with a disability. Rehabilitation Education, 9(2), 97-111.

 

This information package is distributed through an agreement between A Healing Ministry and the National Resource Center on Supported Living and Choice, Center on Human Policy, School of Education, Syracuse University, with support from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) under Contract #H133A990001. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education should be inferred.