Did you hear about the Bertha, Minn. church that kicked out a 13-year old boy with autism? If not, here's the background. When a reporter from The Oregonian called to ask for my reaction my first response was to say:
When Jesus said that how we treat the 'least of these' in society was akin to how we treat God he was talking about 13-year old Adam Race, the autistic boy kicked out of a Minneapolis church because of disruptive behavior.
But I also know the issues are complicated. The story that The Oregonian ran the next day focused in part on the life of a young man and his family - a family that I know - that have also faced the difficulties of autism in church:
Anne Kayser, 45, is the mother of Tom Kayser, 17, who is autistic and has attended First United Methodist Church in downtown Portland his whole life. There have been, she says, some difficult moments. When he was noisy and people who didn't know him turned around in the pew to complain. When he was younger and sometimes aggressive, he would lash out at other children in Sunday school. His parents volunteered to teach his class so they could monitor his behavior.
And the time someone suggested Tom be trained as an acolyte, his mom had doubts. "You want to put a lighted stick in this child's hand and have him walk between hundreds of people?" But he did, with only one close call.
"Now Tom sits with us through the worship service. We've worked on that for years," she says. "He loves classical music, that is his passion. First Methodist is known for sacred choral and organ music, and Tom responds to that."
But, she says, she would not have kept taking Tom to church unless she believed it was valuable to him on another level. "Tom can't understand the theology he hears from the pulpit, but I know he understands that he belongs. He feels at home, safe in a church where he knows most of the people. There is a need for that -- in his life and for most people."
The Rev. Chuck Currie, interim minister at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ in Northeast Portland, says churches deal with disruptions all the time: "crying children, homeless people walking in off the street, people suffering from mental illness speaking out during sermons."
Sometimes, other worshippers' first reaction is "kick them out," he says, but that can't be the ultimate response. "Our call as a church is to minister not just to the well-behaved and the well-dressed. The church needs to be open and affirming of everyone, or it ceases to become a place where you can honestly proclaim the Kingdom of God."
Click here to learn more on these issues from the UCC Disabilities Ministries.
