While I was serving a Presbyterian Church in Omaha I was invited by a fellow pastor to speak to a group that was sponsored by their congregation. It was part of their outreach ministry. The group would be special, made up of the severely handicapped. Many of us have seen them tied to their wheelchairs, drooling, their limbs deformed, their eyes bright or blank. All of them shared a dreadful common denominator. They were marginalized. People uniformly ignored them and when they were forced upon them, they would react with saccharin charity, counting the moments until they could break free of the gravitational pull of their twisted humanity.
I agreed to "speak" to these people. A date was set and then I began to prepare. What could I say to them? How does the gospel impact this sliver of society? Finally I hit upon, what seemed to be a creative approach. I would put them in a position of power: sort of a reverse ploy you might say. To do this I would dress in an oversized coat, large gloves, a big hat, boots, and a scarf to cover my face. I would then ask my host to lead me into their midst like a blind man. My hope was that, sitting in their midst, they would speak to me and gradually encourage me to drop my camouflaged so that they might see who I really was. I determined, in advance, that I would not initiate any conversation. What happened would depend on their assertiveness.
With this in mind, and when the day arrived, I was led into their midst and sat down surrounded by this small circle of humanity. One minute turned into ten and ten turned into a half hour. All during this time I could hear them whisper and they say aloud, "Who is this," "What does he want us to do?" "He sure looks funny." I waited and waited for one of them --- just one, to speak to me --- to call out to me. It didn't happen. My heavy turtle shell coat, hat, scarf all entombed me in failure. I began to feel marginalized myself. After about 45 minutes I whispered to my host, "Take me out of here." He did. I stood up and he guided me toward the door and then abruptly stopped. He said, "They want you to come back." Later he told me what had happened. A look of corporate understanding, a flash of insight had struck the group. I was them!
When I came back and maintained my silence one of them said, "Why are you wearing all that stuff?" I said something and then another asked if they could see my face and so I unwound the scarf and once they got into the program I had shed my cocoon and was there before them as I was.
Then I told them that that is how the gospel came to me and how it comes to them. God speaks to us, directly, or through another and slowly we get faces and become real people. Then I made it a point to touch each of them physically since they had made me one of them by their piercing look when I was at that door.
It was a long time ago but I thank God for that "devotional moment."
Dr. Belt, D.Min., is a retired Presbyterian minister living in Eden (Portland, Oregon). He & his wife Kate have service churches in Upper New York State, Suburban Kansas City MO, Omaha NE and American Fork UT.