this is my body, broken for you

3

Click here to load reader

Upload: william

Post on 27-Mar-2017

216 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: This is My Body, Broken For You

This article was downloaded by: [Eindhoven Technical University]On: 21 November 2014, At: 17:08Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Religion, Disability & HealthPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wrdh20

This is My Body, Broken For YouWilliam Gaventa aa The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities ,Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center/UMDNJ , New Brunswick, NewJersey, USAPublished online: 17 Aug 2009.

To cite this article: William Gaventa (2009) This is My Body, Broken For You, Journal of Religion,Disability & Health, 13:3-4, 185-186, DOI: 10.1080/15228960902908259

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15228960902908259

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: This is My Body, Broken For You

Journal of Religion, Disability & Health, 13:185–186, 2009Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1522-8967 print / 1522-9122 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15228960902908259

This is My Body, Broken For You

WILLIAM GAVENTAAssociate Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Community & Congregational Supports, The

Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, Robert Wood Johnson MedicalCenter/UMDNJ, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

It was my privilege to be at the Service of Ordination for Nancy Lane, one ofthe first women to be ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Syracuse (NewYork). She was certainly the first woman with cerebral palsy to be ordained.It was the early 1980s. I met Nancy when she was a student at ColgateRochester Divinity School (Rochester, NY). I was the Chaplain and Coor-dinator of Religious Services at Monroe Developmental Center (Rochester,NY). The center was about 1 mile from the seminary as the crow flies. Mon-roe was one of the smaller, newer institutions with apartment-like modules.People were coming back to the center from the larger, older, much morecrowded institutions in the country.

At first Nancy was just going to seminary, and continuing her journeyon her own sense of call. Then I got to teach a course on ministries withpeople with disabilities. She participated, and began to clarify for herself anew sense of call. This service of ordination was after her graduation fromColgate Rochester Divinity School. She was being appointed as Director ofone of the first Diocesan programs and offices in ministries with people withdisabilities. The Ordination was at her home parish in Syracuse.

Nancy is amazingly articulate, not for a person with cerebral palsy, butfor anyone. She has great control of the King’s English, and is a powerfulspeaker. With a level of spasticity caused by her cerebral palsy that varies inintensity, she does not have much control over the movement of her body.

As the ordination service progressed, we were soon past the homilyand laying on of hands and into the celebration of the Eucharist. Nancystood behind the altar with the Bishop, and as the Bishop raised his handsto consecrate the table before him, so did Nancy. But hers shook, and thisBaptist minister said to himself, “You know, all of our hands ought to shakewhen we have the boldness and audacity to make those proclamations.” Itwould not be long before another Nancy, Nancy Eiesland, had a lot to say

Address correspondence to William Gaventa, The Boggs Center, P.O. Box 2488, NewBrunswick, NJ 08903. E-mail: [email protected]

185

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ein

dhov

en T

echn

ical

Uni

vers

ity]

at 1

7:08

21

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Page 3: This is My Body, Broken For You

186 W. Gaventa

with her pioneering book on The Disabled God. Nancy would focus on the“disabled” Christ at the heart of the central sacrament of the church.

After the moving consecration of the elements at Nancy Lane’s Serviceof Ordination, we filed forward to be served, kneeling at the altar rail. It wasa rich and sacred moment to be receiving from a person who had been astudent and was now priest. Nancy came in front of me, picked up a waferfrom the paten, and moved her hand toward me, repeating, “This is the bodyof Christ . . .” A spastic tremor shot through her hand, involuntarily snappingthe communion wafer between the two fingers that held it: “Broken for you.”

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ein

dhov

en T

echn

ical

Uni

vers

ity]

at 1

7:08

21

Nov

embe

r 20

14