John Beauchamp, Disability Ministry Enabler, London Diocese writes: when Advent arrives, you will probably be sucked into the busy-ness of the season, singing ‘Hark the herald’ and eating mince pies until you don’t know what day of the week it is. Church life speeds up during this season as we rush from service to service and event to event and it becomes very easy to pass people by without really seeing them or engaging with them.
For many disabled people time is a far slower and more flexible concept and experience. Every day activities take time. Getting out and about takes time. Thinking, speaking and acting takes time. When you live in the Christmas ministry rush it is easy to leave others behind, feeling as if they are not really part of what is going on.
But remember, as angels dance and shepherds run, and magi ride the road to Bethlehem, they are each running towards a moment of stillness and silence and wonder. The child in the manger for whom time does not exist. All this child knows is the experience of being alive in the arms of the mother who has brought them to birth. So, in the middle of the Christmas rush we are challenged to pause. We are challenged to step out of the rush and stop and be still and find the Christ-child amongst us.
It would be easy to think that many disabled people are not that helpful at this Christmas season. As you need chairs moved, mulled wine heated up, mince pies baked, decorations put up and more. But maybe disabled people can be even more use to you by drawing you into stillness. By inviting you into slow time. By calling you to stop and recognise the stillness of the Christ-child who invites us beyond the rush and into a divine moment of slow encounter where time stops still. So, as Advent begins, look around you and be prepared to be surprised. For, just as a stable is the most surprising place to find the Christ, so the Christ is found today in places and people that will surprise you.
Disability Matters 
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