The Disabled Church by Rebecca F. Spurrier;

Author:Rebecca F. Spurrier;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 2)
Published: 2019-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Work of the Church and the Distribution of Resources

A struggle to value the work of those who do not have jobs nor accomplish objective goals for the congregation reveals how the texture of pleasure disrupts Christian liturgical time in which feelings of work and pleasure are often divided. How then to acknowledge the work of pleasure without disregarding the real divisions and power differentials that exist, when some have compensated work and some live in poverty on meager disability incomes? How to value such idle work without making invisible the power structures and real inequalities that arise from the fact that some congregants will never have paying jobs and that some take on more responsibility for others, particularly as these dividing lines often fall along power lines of disability, wealth, and race?

These tensions are highlighted one day when I run into Margo in the hallway. She stands in front of the bulletin board and points to a large poster of smiling children with the words, “Outreach Ministry Supporting Orphans in Kenya.” I recognize these children as ones that Sacred Family prays for every Sunday. “Those are my friends,” she explains. I ask why they are her friends. “I love kids no matter where they are in the world. Kids have helped me out.” And after a pause, “I ain’t got no kids. I look up to the Lord. You know why I look up to him? He knows how to handle things. That’s why the Lord knows. He puts people in your way.” She repeats that she doesn’t have kids, but that God has a plan. God knows.

Margo moves quickly from talking about God’s plans for her to talking about the current priest’s plans to leave the congregation and how that might affect her life. The priest before this one would give out money. Now this priest doesn’t give money. Maybe the next priest will be a nice man. “He’ll be a good man, but I know people are going to ask him for money.” She seems upset that the current priest, a beloved figure in the congregation, doesn’t give out money for cigarettes, but she also feels conflicted about her own desire for help. She wants to know if I agree that people should not come here begging for money. “You’re supposed to take care of that yourself!” she says, playing out the logic of why not to beg at church. “What would you do?”

“I don’t know,” I try to imagine her position. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have money. I would probably ask for help.” I also don’t know what I would do if I were the priest; it’s hard to imagine giving out money for more cigarettes to everyone who asks.

“He [the priest] pretty much puts his foot down,” she concludes. “Cigarettes and money are problems!” She tries to figure out where I stand on these questions of church and the distribution of money for cigarettes or other goods. “You don’t

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