A few Sundays ago, I was reminded of the way that life should be. A life with no unnecessary filters and no faking it just because we feel the need to keep up appearances. What happened? Let me paint a picture for you.
I was sitting outdoors on a Sunday morning in a sea of approximately 1,000 other people. Our church was worshiping together on the front lawn as part of our annual fall kickoff. In the middle of the second worship song, I heard a somewhat familiar voice off in the distance. This wasn’t a person singing out of tune. This was a person screaming something. It was hard to decipher at first, but as the singing volume lowered and the screaming volume increased it was clear as day. A person was yelling “Loser!” repeatedly.
I thought, well that is a bit unusual and started looking around to try to locate where it was coming from as was the rest of the crowd. Then to my surprise, my eyes locked with the person who was yelling “Loser!” He was staring directly at me. I was the object of his ridicule. Talk about a moment I did not expect to take place in the middle of worship.
Then again, maybe I should have expected it. The person yelling “Loser!” was a friend of mine in our Disability Ministry at church. He is a staunch Ohio State Buckeyes football fan. He knows that I am a loyal Michigan Wolverines football fan. And every Sunday after a Michigan loss he gives it to me. To his dismay, it had been over a calendar year since the last Michigan loss. That must be why he had some much pent-up angst when he found me in the crowd of people.
All I could do was laugh and give my friend a smile in the crowd. He returned the smile, and all was back to normal on this Sunday morning.
One of the reasons why I believe Disability Ministry is the greatest ministry is the fact that it involves people who live without any unnecessary filters or fakeness. Our friends are who they are. They live with no apologies. It is up to us to love them for who they are and that is the way that I like it.
I am tired of seeing the overwhelming fakeness on social media platforms. There are no pictures that are taken without a ring light, an aerial view of someone, or a heavily edited photo.
I am tired of the “How are you? I’m great!” surface conversations.
I am tired of seeing how everything is highly produced and perfected, including church services.
None of this is reality. That is why I so LOVE Disability Ministry and being in the space with my friends who have no unnecessary filters or fakeness about them even if it means someone screaming “Loser!” at me in a sea of 1,000 people.
I embrace what the world would say is imperfect or inappropriate because it is real!
In a world full of fakeness, we often overlook the beauty in our imperfections. It’s through our flaws that we connect with our shared humanity. After all, who among us is perfect? True wholeness isn’t about achieving perfection, but about embracing the richness of our diversity.
So next time you feel the pressure to be buttoned up and perfect, take a deep breath. Realize that you are fine just the way you are. You do not have to be someone you are not to be accepted. We are all more alike than different. We are a beautiful collection of imperfect people. It is far better to be accepted for who you are than to fake it and try to gain acceptance from other people that you probably don’t even like anyway.
I know you can resonate with that. So where can you find this acceptance without unnecessary filters or fakeness? There is only one place that I found in my life. It is in the disability community. If you are not part of it, you are missing out.
Everyone needs to find a place of authentic belonging.
