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Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, from 2 Samuel 9 & John 9:1-7. It is easy for the believer to get caught up in the narrative of an assumed understanding of “normal”. Then out of that assumption comes ideas and precepts that are predicated on what should “naturally” follow. But all of that is blown up when you come face to face with someone who doesn’t fit the narrative or picture of normal. Consequently, what is “natural” feels out of place. And you are disoriented. Like the disciples when they, along with Jesus, encounter the man who was blind from birth. In the assumption of “normal” they ask the question, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The narrative of an assumed idea of normal breeds this kind of blame game. But the Christian has to grapple with the grace that is in Jesus’ answer, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
The wrong understanding of disabilities can limit a person’s faith and obscure the work of God because of supposed ideas of normal, that doesn’t account for the works of God and is seeking to blame someone. As a church that seeks to celebrate and demonstrate the power of the gospel to remove the barriers that divide, we have to think about those who have disabilities and how we serve them. We won’t serve out of our abilities or our own power. It has to be with the wealth and power of the King who seeks us in our lonely disabled condition and brings us to his table (Like David and Mephibosheth) all the days of our lives. This sermon will show us how God displays his work in and through the disabled and those who love and welcome them. The glory of God is not dependent on the “normal” people and their ability, but on those who are disabled and find no other help or hope than what is offered to us through faith in Jesus Christ.