Spotlight

It is my privilege to introduce to you another of the members of the Board of Stauros. The Rev. Nancy J. Lane is an Episcopal priest who has cerebral palsy. She has lectured both nationally and internationally on a variety of subjects dealing with disability and suffering. She is currently the Executive Director of Disability Awareness: An Empowering Ministry, headquartered in Elmira, New York. She is also a doctoral candidate in Religion and Disability at the Union Institute. Rev. Lane has graciously provided us with some of her background and presented some of her beliefs about suffering.

It is an honor to accept a position on the board of STAUROS. Flavian Dougherty, C.P. was a friend and companion in ministry. In 1983, I was ordained an Episcopal priest and began The Office of AccessAbility for the Diocese of Central New York. Soon after, I became a mediator for disabled persons for accessibility. Flavian was similarly involved in Chicago and quickly became my Mentor. He was also a compassionate and wise priest as he listened to my unfolding story of struggle within the Church. He easily understood how profound it was for me to travel through the desert on our Israel trip in 1989. It is my prayer that in serving on the board, I can return a portion of Flavian's many gifts of presence to me. The problem of suffering had been the focus of most of my undergraduate and seminary studies. Receiving the Notebook has encouraged me to continue that study as my ministry has evolved.

Today I lecture and conduct workshops to educate the Church to be inclusive of persons with disabilities. I begin with a "theology of acceptance" speaking to the commonality of woundedness and suffering, for they are not limited to persons with disabilities (I believe) visible disabilities are symbols of all that we fear, that we are limited, fragile, and finite people. Consequently, there are Churches and people who still say, "the blemished shall not approach the altar of God" and "whose sin is it that this (person) be born blind" (disabled). There are too many who want to "heal" us - meaning we are to become persons without disabilities, without the visible reminders of the reality of suffering Scriptures tell us that life brings suffering, trial. and pain. However, healing is to know in faith that God is present in the midst of suffering and loss. Healing is responding to God's love and gift of grace at work in us, in and through the limitations of our lives. Healing is living with our limitations where necessary, while also being challenged to accept them when possible. To be healed is to continue to live in faith and hope, recognizing and believing that new life can come out of suffering and loss I continue to study and live with the problem of suffering. In suffering we develop an awareness of a meaningful world in which there is acceptance of what is, of what can be, and then living creatively at the center of that tension. As with Jeremiah, I find that God uproots in order to build, destroys in order to renew; God waters the dry places, and illuminates my darkness; God opens doors which were closed, warms that which was ice cold. With Isaiah, the crooked places are made straight, and the hills brought low, while the valleys are lifted up. With the Psalmist (103) I say "bless the Lord, 0 my soul; all that is within me, bless (God's) holy Name."