We had a reception before Christmas and some of the individuals came to the chapel and listened to hymns and had some refreshments. Privacy acts don’t allow us to take pictures of everyone so we can only take pictures of those who have signed releases.
I was once again taken aback by one of the individuals that came to church at the Developmental Center chapel. Here is an individual that is totally dependent on others for everything from bathing to going to church. As he was being pushed out of the church in his wheelchair he said that he was thankful that the attendant brought him to worship. This simple attitude of gratitude was humbling and refreshing. There seems to be a lot of problem in the church as to who is in charge and who has the “authority” and who is the “greatest among us” as the disciples of Jesus were famously arguing about on several occasions.
From one of Hermann Sasse’s letters
In the church the heroes of the faith are no higher than the desperate man who prays with folded hands: “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!” [Mk. 9:24] In the church, St Francis of Assisi [1182-1226] and the blessed Elizabeth are no higher than the simplest deaconess consumed by the service of the poor and distressed. The intellectual giants of Christendom, like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274], are no higher than the poorest of the intellectually weak children in the bottom wing of an institution who can’t learn anything more than to sing a Christmas carol to their Savior. There is no hierarchy in the church, no chain of command, no nobility of blood or spirit. There is only the poverty of nothing that Augustine expressed with his favorite verse of the New Testament. He writes about this chapter: “What do you have that you did not receive.” And Luther, in the last words that he ever wrote: “We are all beggars. This is true.” There is only the wealth that God has given us, “For me and my life is nothing on this earth for what Christ gave me is worth love.” In the church, men count for nothing, and God for everything. And all the natural gifts, the Creator has given us men–without any merit or worthiness– finds their greatest worth in the service of God.
