Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Faith: light in the darkness -- Diane Mettam

I have a wonderful veterinarian who makes house calls, sort of like the doctor on “Royal Pains.”  Her office is her car.  It contains equipment, medications, everything she needs to visit and treat her patients.  She prefers running her practice this way because she can see her patients in their native habitats, so to speak.  She can take her time getting to know them, and understanding their situations.  And she gets to know their owners, too. 

Last week I called her because Sadie was out of her flea medication, and her rabies vaccination was coming due.  She came over that day and gave Sadie an exam (it turned out she had an ear infection), gave her her rabies vaccine, and ear drops as well as her flea and tick medication.  And we had time for a visit while she took care of Sadie. 

We talked about our sons.  Mine is a wildland firefighter, and although he has moved into management of the helitack base as he has grown older, he is still an active firefighter.  Each year the wildland fires seem to be worse, and last longer.  The vet’s son is a Marine, off to active duty in the Middle East.  How, I asked her, does she handle the stress?  She smiled at me and said, “Faith.”

a tall, single purple candle burning brightly in the darkI smiled because that is my answer, too.  I turned my son over to God many years ago (he has been doing this job for over twenty years).  Faith is the answer to so many problems and questions.  Faith is the answer when one loses a beloved pet for no apparent reason.  Faith is the answer when your town is surrounded by fire.  Faith is the answer when we are disabled by illness or injury, or our child is born less-than-perfect. 

We don’t know why these things happen, but we do know that faith will see us through.  We know that God doesn’t let us suffer needlessly.  There is a community of believers, a community of fellow wanderers on the path, a “cloud of witnesses” who have been there before us and who will follow us.  They are here now.  We are not alone unless we choose to be. 

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11


Dear God, We thank you that we are not alone, that we can depend on you, that you give us friends and family to remind us of your presence.  Help us to trust in you.  Amen

Friday, August 26, 2016

News from UMAMD, 8/26/2016

New York Times series on disability:
--1, pride
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/opinion/sunday/becoming-disabled.html
-- 2, Finding refuge with the skin I'm in
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/opinion/finding-refuge-with-the-skin-im-in.html

Report from Exclusion and Embrace conference
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/disability-justice-and-spirituality-focus-of-australia-conference

Guide for clergy leave
http://network.crcna.org/disability-concerns/guide-clergy-leave-absence-mental-health-reasons-toolkit

"Nothing to contribute"?
http://thegatheringplace.us/2016/05/19/1686/

A Bracelet's path for Deaf school uniforms
http://www.umdeaf.org/mission/bracelet.html

Disability Advocacy: Family Leave
https://blog.dol.gov/2016/08/18/caring-for-elderly-parents/

Disability Advocacy: Violence against people
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judith-e-heumann/violence-against-persons-disabilities-global-human-rights_b_11610252.html

Disability Advocacy: Report from Roll on Capitol Hill
http://wheel-life.org/hollister-supports-roll-on-capitol-hill-legislative-advocacy-efforts-for-wheelchair-users/

Disability Advocacy: Disability Integration Act
http://cqrcengage.com/cdrnys/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=238953

Click here for a list of events of interest to people in disability ministry.
UMAMD logo with the UM Cross and Flame and several disability symbols
This newsletter is generally issued weekly by the
United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities,
a caucus of the United Methodist Church.

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Friday, August 19, 2016

AMD this week, 8/19/16

What do we really need healing of?
http://whydisabilitymatters.org/disability-and-healing/

Donna Fado Ivery presented at the joint DMC/AMD meeting in Dallas in 2015. Her new CD, Dancing Through the Pain, will be available on Sept. 1.
http://adventuresinhealing.com/store/#dvd

What do clergy need for positive mental health?
https://carducc.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/what-do-clergy-need-for-positive-mental-health/

Newsletter from Mental Health Ministries
http://www.mentalhealthministries.net/spotlights/index.html

Mental health and poverty
http://www.newsweek.com/what-governments-can-do-help-mental-health-487144

UMCom: Breaking the taboo
http://www.umcom.org/learn/breaking-the-taboo-how-the-church-can-help-people-with-mental-illness

Pew Trust report: care for lifetime
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/08/10/what-happens-to-developmentally-disabled-as-parents-age-die

Understanding and support for trauma victims
http://network.crcna.org/safe-church/understanding-and-supporting-survivors-trauma

Advocacy Alerts
DREDF on ADA Education and Reform bill
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d8372142072c8ce7f2e90e349&id=70afd44c28

Disability advocacy: NAMI presents the platforms of the two major parties on mental health matters.
http://www.nami.org/About-NAMI/NAMI-News/2016-Election-Platforms

Disability advocacy: MHA presents "vote with mental health in mind"
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/vote16

Group calls for universal health care. "The United Methodist Church therefore affirms in our Social Principles (¶ 162V) health care as a basic human right and affirms the duty of government to assure health care for all."
http://www.occupy.com/article/us-doctors-call-universal-healthcare-abolish-insurance-companies#sthash.nXn64lAk.dpbs  

Click here for a list of events of interest to people in disability ministry.

UMAMD logo with the UM Cross and Flame and several disability symbols
This newsletter is generally issued weekly by the
United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities,
a caucus of the United Methodist Church.

Click here to join this e-mail list.
Visit us on the web or Facebook.   

Friday, August 5, 2016

News from UMAMD, 8/5/16

Welcome as a Way of Life: a practical theology of Jean Vanier
http://wipfandstock.com/welcome-as-a-way-of-life.html

Disable Poverty initiative
http://disablepoverty.org/what-is-disable-poverty/#action

Process Theology and Disability Theology
http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/process-theology-and-disability-theology-finding-ways-to-do-things-differently.html

To Sign or not to sign
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/the-pulse/93692-to-sign-or-not-to-sign

Where (and by implication, what) do you learn about disability?
https://largertable.com/2016/08/03/where-do-you-learn-about-disability/

How "differently abled" marginalizes disabled people
http://www.autistichoya.com/2013/08/differently-abled.html

Parish accessibility (America Magazine)
http://americamagazine.org/issue/out-shadows

Advocacy: a thank you card to Senator Tom Harkin for his work on the ADA
(note that this is part of a political campaign, but the thank you appears to be forthright)
http://ia.monicavernonforcongress.com/page/s/commemorate-the-ada--


Click here for a list of events of interest to people in disability ministry.
UMAMD logo with the UM Cross and Flame and several disability symbols
This newsletter is generally issued weekly by the
United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities,
a caucus of the United Methodist Church.

Click here to join this e-mail list.
Visit us on the web or Facebook.