“Open your mouth for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the unfortunate.  Open your mouth; judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and the needy.”  Proverbs 31:8-9

In the midst of the worldwide orphan crisis, God is calling His people to act.  Specifically, we believe God is calling His church to action on behalf of orphans with special needs, or intellectual disabilities, who are currently receiving little to no care across the world.  Join us, Special Hope Network, as we speak, worship, and pray on behalf of these ones who have been created so uniquely in the image of God, but have been forgotten by His people.

We would like to invite individuals and families from your church to be a part of this event on March 25th, from 7-9 PM.  “Open Your Mouth“ will be a night dedicated to worship and advocacy in defense of orphans with intellectual disabilities.  Come join us at The Haven at First and Market, where Alex Mejias (local worship leader and musician) will be leading worship, and where we will share with you the heart God has given us for orphans with intellectual disabilities as we speak and pray in their defense.

Many of you may have read two interesting articles in the Sunday Washington Post today, that directly related to our post on language and how to speak about folks who develop differently than the “norm”, and specifically the use of the word “Retard”. For those of you who didn’t have that chance, I will recap them here for you, and footnote the articles, so you can read them in their entirety for yourself. But before that, I am going to remind you of some Scripture that you already probably know: Ephesians 4:29, 31-32 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Kathleen Parker’s editorial piece was entitled “Trig and political calculus”, the Trig in the title not referring to trigonometry, but referring to Sarah and Todd Palin’s son who has Down syndrome. The purpose of her article centered on the fine balance between privacy, and exploitation of her child while bringing the defense of people with special needs to the forefront when politics goes anywhere near the topic. I was unaware of the comments made by Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, President Obama, and Rush Limbaugh on the subjects of special needs, using the word “retard”, and making distasteful jokes at the expense of folks who have special needs in the last month (some comments even stretched back to last summer).

In the Outlook section, Christopher M. Fairman wrote an article called “Saying it is hurtful. Banning it is worse.” The whole article is about using the word “retard”, and whether using this word is ever alright to use, though what the cost of banning it would be (as well as how fruitless it would be, since we’ll just find another pejorative term). It is odd to think that a word that originally was used to, as Fairman puts it well ” to convey greater dignity and respect than previous labels had. While the verb “retard” – meaning to delay or hinder – has roots in the 15th century, its use in reference to mental development didn’t occur until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when medical texts began to describe children with “retarded mental development”, “retarded children” and “mentally retarded patients.” By the 1960’s, “mental retardation” became the preferred medical term, gradually replacing previous diagnostic standards such as “idiot”, “imbecile” and “moron” – terms that had come to carry perjorative connotations.” He goes on to say that “it is only in the past generation that the medical term turned into the slang “retard” and gained power as an insult.” What makes particular sense to me is how word use changes over time, that ” invariably, negative connotations materialize around whatever new word is used: “idiot” becomes an insult and gives way to “retardation” which in turn suffers the same fate, leading to “intellectual disability.” While there may be another word to use, a negative connotation eventually is found.”

Isn’t it sad, that we as human race of people, created by God, are so disparaging to those weaker than us, those who our words hurt, and those who cannot speak for themselves? Isn’t it sad that instead of using words as God intended, we prove ourselves quite dexterous in finding new and hurtful ways to use our words?

There is a movement to remove the word “retard” from use entirely. What word will be next? Wouldn’t it be better if we could be kind with whatever words we are using, to the point that our speech would be wise, seasoned with grace, encouraging, building others up according to THEIR need, that it may benefit those who listen? That is the goal of our life, and hopefully a goal for you, too. Ephesians holds good counsel for us, as we live surrounded by an assortment of other people, both bright and not so bright, creative and non-creative, sporty and clumsy, quiet and loud, financially-wise, and not so great with money, color-blind, and great at interior decorating, musical, and non-musical. We are all so different with strengths and weaknesses, it seems that we could put our time to better use if we each spent time caring for others, encouraging their strengths, and closing our mouths when we feel disparagement, sarcasm or tearing-down in the name of building ourselves up.

Let’s hear that one helpful phrase again, to ring in our ears as we go: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Oh, that we each could do that, today!

The idea of the Lord’s “dwelling place” is quite nice, isn’t it?  I’m sure many of you have heard and sung the contemporary worship song “Better is One Day”…

“How lovely is Your dwelling place,
oh Lord Almighty
My soul longs and even faints for You.

One thing I ask and I would seek,

to see Your beauty

To find you in the place Your glory dwells.”

Though the song pulls lines from different psalms of David, the idea is consistent- there is beauty and glory to be found in the dwelling place of the Lord.  No wonder we claim it would be better to spend a day there than a thousand elsewhere- it sounds like a delightful place to be.

The church is again and again called by Scripture to keep our minds fixed on the eternity we will spend in the presence of the beautifully glorious Lord Almighty, and so songs like this one and the psalms of David are helpful in directing our hearts towards that end.

But what about God’s dwelling place here on earth?  What does the Word have to say about the place God chooses to dwell here in the earthly, temporal realm?

“A father to the fatherless, and a protector of the widow is God in His holy habitation.” Psalm 68:5

There is a long list of verses that agree with this one- that God consistently chooses His dwelling place to be with those who are weak and afflicted.  Jesus, Himself, is clear about this in Matthew chapter 25-

“Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You?”

And the King will answer and say to them “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

Here, Jesus does not simply claim to dwell with the hungry, thirsty, strange, naked, sick, and imprisoned- He claims to BE them.  In this passage, God’s chosen dwelling place on this earth is made very clear- the adjectives used to describe it, however, are not as lovely-sounding.  I’m not sure my heart and flesh would so easily long for such a place, and I really don’t know that I would choose to spend a day in any of those circumstances.  Certainly not when my current dwelling place allows me to be satiated, familiar, clothed, healthy, and free.

But what if those places are really where the beauty and glory of the Lord is to be found?  What if God actually does choose the weak things of the world as His dwelling place?  What would it mean for little guys like this one…

He has been labeled by the world as worthless- so much so that they have placed him in a brick holding room, where he is never permitted to leave.  He has AIDS and an intellectual disability, and is passed small amounts of food through the hole from which this picture was taken.  I bet he is indeed hungry and thirsty, feeling naked and like a stranger, is very sick and certainly imprisoned.  So what if our responsibility to him is actually the same as our responsibility to Him?  What if we actually have to stand before Jesus one day and explain why we left Him sitting in His lonely (and not so lovely, according to the world) dwelling place?  Will we ever get to enjoy the Lord in His heavenly dwelling place if we choose not to join Him in His earthly dwelling place of suffering?

In order that we might not be the ones to whom Jesus says “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” (Matt 25:41) may He give us grace to pray as David did and to continue to sing this song, but perhaps, with a new understanding of that which we are asking.  May our eyes be opened, and then fixed, to the beauty and glory of God that is so uniquely displayed in orphans with intellectual disabilities.

It is funny to me, as a Mom of children who have special needs, that often folks say to me a phrase that grates on the ear, and yet to someone who isn’t daily dealing with the needs of people with disabilities, the speaker doesn’t even notice!  As a Special Needs Teacher, I had situations in the course of recording a student’s progress when I was required to write all the strengths of a child who had special needs in the “current performance” section of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP).  Usually it was so easy, because each child, uniquely made by God, has such strengths.  And, yet, as in one of our previous blog writings, the disability or disabilities go before them, and often a child or adult is known primarily by their disability or weakness, without any of the strengths noted.  You may have heard this when a baby is born, and has Down syndrome, and is referred to as a Down’s baby, instead of a baby who has Down syndrome.  Isn’t the child a baby first, and then the fact that the baby has Down syndrome secondary?

And, so it is with a switch, which is more like a shift in language referencing people who have a cognitive delay.  In the US, special needs is the term most commonly used to reference a person who has cognitive delays, but since special needs can also mean a physical or medical need, oftentimes one has to go on in the explanation past just the description “special needs” to encompass the type of disability a person or people group defined has.  So, around the world, the more acceptable term used for folks who have a developmental delay is “intellectual disability”.  Because we work with folks from all around the world, we want to be clear in who we are ministering to and with.  We specifically work with and serve people who have a developmental delay, a cognitive delay, which we define with the worldwide term, intellectual disability.

What’s in a name?  We think quite a bit.