“…but [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.'” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
In weakness God makes power.
In the stammering speech.
In the thinning skin.
In the cane-assisted stride.
In weakness God makes power.
In the eyes that do not see.
In the ears that do not hear.
In the legs that do not bear.
In weakness God makes power.
In the mind that cannot focus.
In the hand that cannot grasp.
In the appetite that cannot resist.
In weakness God makes power.
But those who are made
in the image of God
make obstacles; and why?
In weakness God makes power.
In the root that makes its soil.
In the child that makes its generation.
In the death that promises eternal life.
In weakness God makes power.
A poem/prayer based on 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, the Revised Common Lectionary Second Reading for Year B, Proper 9 (14).
Photo by Eric Anderson
ordainedgeek 
A deep blessing to read for, well, my generation, but also all!
Thank you, Maren. I tried to think across the generations, but my thoughts were mostly with people with disabilities.
I have a hard time with the different gifts of people with disabilities called “weakness,” and that those “made in the image of God” are the ones with sight, hearing, mobility. Would you consider changing “are made in” (the image of God) to “claim to be” (the image of God)? It seems that they, in saying they are somehow normative, feel justified in creating obstacles. I have a friend Rosalie with lifelong mobility impairments currently stirring up protest in Aotearoa/New Zealand because all the public buses had lowering front stairs and the new model does not … why take a away an assist to a popular which must often need to use public transportation?
Just a thought … certainly not a critique.
It’s a good question, for certain, whether to call a disability a weakness – and for those I know with disabilities, that’s often a difficult question. Most of the time, if the disability itself is painful, as some are, they’d be happy to be rid of the pain. Occasionally they wish their disability didn’t create barriers to navigating natural systems. Pretty much everyone I know has the most frustration with barriers like the one your friend Rosalie is protesting, barriers arising from an assumption about those using a public space. Most of them wouldn’t phrase it as “taking away an assist.” They’d call it “creating an unnecessary obstacle.”
My daughter has been doing theological work on the concept of a disabled God. It’s worth noting that the risen Jesus is… wounded.
I remember when I started pastoring, 1980, we always lifted up Access Sunday in October and changes were made. I barely hear it mentioned now. I am thinking and laughing at how many elevators I got in churches traveling around and suggesting churches plan one big enough for a casket and then fundraise from funeral homes!
I so appreciate your lifting it up.
Do let me know when your daughter’s work is shareable.
I’ll look up some examples and send them to you.
Thank you so much!