Unexpected Guests At God's Banquet: Welcoming People with Disabilities Into the Church

by Brett Webb-Mitchell

Taking insight from Jesus' parable of the banquet feast, this practical and challenging call to a more inclusive church shows why disabled people--the mentally disabled, the physically impaired, and others--must be a part of congregational life, and offers advice on how to make this a reality.

Genres: Theology, Disability

204 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

This latest (eighth) book, ON BEING A GAY PARENT, is a practical, down-to-earth, guide that answers the questions unique to the Christian gay parenting experience, with a mixture of concrete information, illuminating anecdotes, and creative solutions.

After teaching at Duke Divinity School for over a decade, I am currently the Director of the religious non-profit, the School of the Pilgrim, leading pilgrimages around the world. I have written two books on pilgrimage: FOLLOW ME (Seabury Press, 2006) and SCHOOL OF THE PILGRIM (W/JKP, 2007). I am also an ordained clergyperson in the Presbyterian Church, USA; am a Benedictine oblate; am a father of two children; and am in a long term relationship."

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

caveats from _Deaf Liberation Theology_:

Relatively few attempts are made to incorporate cultural aspects of sign language into services and teaching appears to remain at a very simplified level so I would argue that Deaf people are still constructed as being unable to fully engage with God's word. In the 'mainstream' church, sign language continues to be constructed as inferior to spoken language. Webb-Mitchell, for example, suggests that 'gestures' (in which he includes sign language as 'highly formalized and iconic') can be a way for all the Christian community, whether able-bodied or not, to communicate and worship together. Following Calvin's edict 'sacraments are God's word made visible', he suggests that everyone can move as appropriate in the service (sit, stand, kneel and so on) receive the bread and wine and see it being broken, and act out God's love in visiting [Ch. 7:]. Such inclusiveness is not possible if, for example, the congregation stands as a 'gesture' to acknowledge the importance of the Gospel reading, those in wheelchairs are excluded. This attitude also constructs sign and gesture as something that is a lowest common denominator and therefore something that the able-bodied are kindly reducing themselves to if that is all they share. For a Deaf person in an oral service, standing, sitting, kneeling, moving are all possible, but hearing people also have the words, the prayers and so on. To suggest that movement alone is sufficient for Deaf people is to suggest that the construction of such people as being unable to fully participate in the worship of the community of God continues.
-p.82

Webb-Mitchell attempts to provide an alternative construction than that of helping disabled people as objects of charity. He uses the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:15-24 and argues that we are all invited to join with God in the banquet as equals in the common life of the spirit [p. 84:]. He suggests that people with disabilities are especially wise in the parable as they graciously accept the invitation extended by God when others are too busy to do so [p. 91:]. This leads him to formulate a grand vision of inclusiveness acted out in the life of the church; we must invite, welcome and care for 'guests' representative of all human conditions including disability [p. 107:]. The basic difficulty with the image of the banquet is that people with disabilities are still objectified as people to be invited and welcomed; 'inclusion' is a wonderful idea, but it still carries the implication of a group inviting individual others to join in their way of doing things. It is not until page 124 of his book that he suggests asking people with disabilities themselves what they experience and feel. The other difficulty is the idealization of people with disabilities, as he seems to think they will be as glad to accept the invitation as the guests were at the original 'great banquet'. He dos not seem to consider the possibility that those who came to the banquet in the end were likely to have been those desperate for food and bored with nothing to do. People with disabilities are as likely to be preoccupied with worldly concerns as any other. This construction continues to objectify people with disabilities as people who will be glad to be invited anywhere and happy to respond positively to such an invitation. The possibility that many people with disabilities are excluded and alienated by the church that they are unlikely to perceive any such invitation as anything but patronizing pity is not considered in this construction.
-p.87-88

[Wesley Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important book, but I'm afraid it's mostly outdated.