[Faith-talk] Prayer and blindness

[Rex Leslie Howard, Jr.]

I was going through some archives and I read the very good conversation
about blindness and prayer.

 

I was reminded of an article that Harvey Lauer wrote some time ago.

 

It used to be called "The Blind Church Members" but now it is called "The
Loving Congregation."

 

It tells the story of blindness and church culture in a very positive and
affirming way.

 

I want to share it with you.

 

Many of us have had some interesting experiences with the more charismatic
church congregations as it relates to blindness and prayer.

 

Just recently a mother and father came to me with their small boy and told
me the boy was going blind. Rather than ask me what to expect (IE) education
resources, mobility training, etc. they asked me to pray that he be healed.

 

Of course I prayed as they wished but I'm not sure it was in accordance with
God's will. Nor, however, do I know that it isn't in accordance with God's
will that he be healed.

 

This is one of these areas where judgment and wisdom will always win the
day.

 

Here's the article. It's kind of long but I think yall will like it if
you've never read it before.

 

THE LOVING CONGREGATION 

by Harvey Lauer

In the following story Harvey Lauer captures the experience that many blind
church members have had and demonstrates the most effective way of
educating, reassuring, and witnessing to congregations filled with ordinary
people who fear blindness and are uncertain how to behave with blind people.
Here is what he has to say:

"We can't ask them to help. What could they do? They are blind!" When we
were new members of our congregation, Bethlehem in Broadview, Illinois,
that's almost the first remark my wife and I overheard. It didn't surprise
me because I had met professors who wouldn't let me take their courses and
some who wanted to give me a good grade just because I was blind. By the
time we moved to Broadview, I was employed as a rehabilitation teacher and
had to deal regularly with stereotyped notions about disability.

My wife, Lueth, had just come from a rural community in which blindness was
poorly understood by her family and friends. They meant well but perceived
her as dependent, even as an adult. She came to the city with hopes of being
accepted as a contributing member of society.

Because of her shyness she reacted by feeling ill at ease and withdrawing.
She hoped that we could find a friendlier church, but I saw the problem
differently. I knew that only time and acquaintance would reveal whether
such remarks were based on clannishness, ignorance, or pity. People were
friendly, but that didn't help much. They told her how amazing it was that
she read and wrote Braille, something she had learned in school and which
she felt should not be considered unusual. As a result, she felt
self-conscious and would not read aloud in public.

At church gatherings we both sat a lot and must have appeared rather
helpless. People may have wondered how we did our housework. We kept a
reasonably good house, but there were two big obstacles to functioning in
church.

The first was unfamiliarity with the territory. At home we knew where to
find things. At church almost nothing was ever in the same place twice. At
home awkward behavior could be laughed off; in public the appearance of
awkwardness brings not only needed assistance but sometimes too much help
and expressions of pity that are hard to take.

Talk was futile. There were two barriers. It was hard for Lueth to try new
things, and some people were reluctant to give her a chance. Some wanted to
help but didn't know how to begin.

While she couldn't wait on tables efficiently, she could have helped in the
kitchen if she had known where things were kept. She couldn't watch children
on the playground, but she could have helped in the nursery if people had
believed in her ability. She couldn't make posters, but she had developed
the ability to write and dramatize stories. Yet she needed encouragement and
acceptance. My own road to acceptance and involvement was just as rocky.

Over the course of several years, and with the help of prayer and good
friends, our strategy took shape. We volunteered to organize the coffee
hours. Then we "forgot" to find someone to go in early to make coffee and
prepare for the activity, so the job fell to us.

We went a half hour early in order to familiarize ourselves with the kitchen
and find everything we needed. The members who came later with coffee cakes
were surprised to find us there and more surprised to find the place set up
for business.

In calling people for the next coffee hour, we found that it's easy to get
people to bring things, but harder to find someone who will go early and set
everything up. Lueth said, "Why don't we do it again?" So we did it again
and many more times after that. Each time different people who were taking
their turns would come in and find us working. Good working relationships
were formed. Lueth began to help with other activities. People found out
what she could do efficiently and gave her those tasks.

The years went by. We had birthday parties for our children and invited
members' children. We joined neighborhood Bible study groups, where Lueth
gradually gained the confidence to read passages and contribute to the
discussion. She volunteered to be a friendly visitor in convalescent homes,
where she could talk with people individually, then later read stories to
groups, and finally lead a Bible class. Now she is on the evangelism team
and an officer on the church council.

I did not learn about the final incident in my story until twenty years
after it happened. Some people in town told a group of church members that
we should be investigated because we were blind and probably couldn't take
proper care of our children.

Nothing was done about the suggestion because the members assured them that
blindness was no reason for such a concern. They said that our children were
at least as well cared for as theirs. It turned out that ours is not only a
friendly church, but an observant and loving one as well