WINGS
A FAITHLETTER FOR, BY AND ABOUT UNITED METHODISTS WITH DISABILITIES 
AND THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT THEM

Fall 2003—Vol. 14, Issue 2, No. 54

Those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like 
eagles....  Isaiah 40:31 [nrsv]


FROM WHERE I SIT: 
JACOB'S RAMP   
By Jo D'Archangelis

       Jacob is one of the most interesting characters in the Old Testament. He is chosen by 
God to be the "Great Patriarch" of the twelve tribes of Israel. He is also, at least in the first part 
of his life, an exceptionally deceitful and dishonest man. He manipulates his brother, Esau, out 
of his birthright and deceives his blind father, Isaac, into giving him his deathbed blessing. In 
fear of his brother, he flees from Canaan to his father's homeland and after many years of hard 
work, skillful negotiation, and a bit of flimflam, amasses wives, children, slaves, and livestock. 
He eventually returns to Canaan and on the way there is reunited with Esau.
	According to Genesis, Jacob encounters the person of God twice. First he has a dream 
in which he sees God standing beside him and angels going up and down between heaven and 
earth on a ramp.* When Jacob awakens from his dream, he exclaims, "Surely God is in this 
place and I didn't know it!" One suspects that God had been with Jacob in many other places up 
to that time but that Jacob perhaps avoided acknowledging his presence.
	At any rate, the second time Jacob encounters God is in a full-throttle smack-down of a 
wrestling match. For a while it looks as though Jacob will get the best of God, but then God 
grabs hold of Jacob's thigh and gives it a twist, thereby dislocating Jacob's hip. Jacob, 
however, continues to grapple with God and cries out as much in desperation as in defiance, "I 
won't let you go until you bless me." This time Jacob rightfully earns the blessing he receives. 
God tells him that from now on his name will be Israel, i.e., "one who strives with God," and God 
reaffirms his promise to make Jacob the father of a great nation.  	
	At this point the Bible doesn't say that God disables Jacob as punishment for his past 
duplicity. Rather it says that Jacob's disability is to serve as a permanent reminder of his 
struggle with God, a struggle from which Jacob emerges both humbled and elevated. Moreover, 
Jacob's disability becomes, if not a blessing in itself, certainly a sign of the blessedness that 
arises from that struggle.
	For Jacob the struggle was in holding on to God until God blessed him. For some of us 
the struggle is in God holding on to us until we allow him to bless us. My relationship with God 
has never been an easy one. I was what you might call "God-obsessed" as a child. I started 
reading the Bible at a young age, and I prayed and thought about God a lot. But it was a 
relationship based, at least initially, on the fear of hell and, later, on strict adherence to rules and 
dogma.  
	As I grew older, I grew tired of trying to be someone I wasn't—namely, a "wheelchair 
saint"—and of professing beliefs I really didn't have. By the time I reached my junior year in 
college, my faith just sort of crumbled, and for the next 18 years I tried to push God out of my 
life as much as possible.
	I wish I could say I wasted those years in a dissolute life full of sex, drugs, and alcohol 
as that would make a much better story. But I can't. I married, studied several years for a 
Ph.D., and joined disability groups. But nothing brought much meaning or fulfillment to my life. 
My marriage eventually petered out, I didn't complete the Ph.D., and I dropped out of the 
disability groups.   
	Then one day—I don't know exactly why—I opened the Bible and started reading it 
again. Another day I started praying to God again. And yet another day I started to attend 
church again.  
	After that my life gradually attained a richness and meaning it hadn't had before. I have 
been blessed over the past several years by being able to participate in church activities and 
disability retreats, to come into contact with other believers with disabilities, and to serve God 
and my church by doing something I love: putting together this newsletter.
	I also wish I could say that during this time my faith in God has been unwaveringly sure 
and secure. But I can't. It seems I have been struggling with God all my life—intellectually, 
emotionally, and spiritually—and even now I continue to struggle with him, perhaps even more 
so now than when I was younger. 
	Yet even at those times when doubts assail me and the silence of God seems most 
overwhelming, I like to think that he stands beside me–at the foot of a ramp ascending into 
heaven no less—waiting patiently for me to be aware of his presence. Whatever my physical or 
mental or spiritual condition, I know at the center of my soul that God holds me fast and refuses 
to let me go until he blesses me. 

*The Hebrew word for "ladder" can also be translated as "ramp."


CAUCUS WORKS TO EMPOWER DEAF UNITED METHODISTS   
By Bill Fentum

       Breaking the sound barrier" between United Methodists with hearing loss and the rest of 
the denomination has stayed the goal of the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf since its 
formation in 1978. But for every advance the caucus makes, another roadblock appears.
	The latest hurdle is gaining representation and assistance at General Conference, said 
the Rev. Peggy A. Johnson, who attended a biennial UMCD meeting at Lovers Lane United 
Methodist Church in Dallas [this past August]. Ms. Johnson, a hearing pastor at Baltimore's 
Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf, said she thought the problem was solved at 
General Conference in 2000 when an 11th-hour resolution called for sign-language interpretation 
at all future sessions. But then she learned such bills are worthless without first being approved 
by the General Council on Finance and Administration.
	"You have to put in a budget, because if you don't, it's not going to go anywhere," said 
Gary Bowen, GCFA associate secretary and business manager for the General Conference. 
"Nobody I know has any kind of open checkbook. We have to serve the delegates so they can 
make the most informed decisions for the church, and it does not look like we're going to have 
any primary delegates who are deaf at next year's General Conference in Pittsburgh."
	But Mr. Bowen added he will confer with Ms. Johnson on interpretation options for 
hard-of-hearing delegates and deaf visitors. "We'll be looking at various scenarios, including 
closed-captioning on big-screen television, and possibly adding interpretation to the streaming 
webcasts transmitted by United Methodist Communications," he said.
	Ms. Johnson said one deaf delegate was elected in June from the 
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, but only as a fourth alternate. "That means this 
gentleman will have almost no chance to serve in any real, legislative action," she said. "I don't 
know if it's even worth bothering. Why do we bother going, when everything's always sewed up 
ahead of time? Deaf United Methodists feel like second-class citizens, like they're generally 
unempowered in our denomination to have a voice or a vote. If we're as inclusive as we say we 
are, why do we let this happen?"
	Christ UMC member Ken Schroeder, the only deaf delegate elected for the 2000 
meeting in Cleveland, lamented the situation in an e-mail to the Review: "The resolution in 2000 
was passed to give us equal access to General Conference so we can observe and participate 
as any other United Methodist can. Now it seems this will only happen if there is a deaf 
delegate. What will our denomination's response be to this? Will we be once again excluded 
from the life of the church?"
	This struggle for a voice in the Methodist tradition has a 109-year-old history, beginning 
in 1894 when Philip J. Hasenstab, the first deaf clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
started a mission in Chicago....
	After more than a century, the Baltimore-Washington and Illinois Great Rivers 
conferences remain the denomination's only strongholds for deaf ministry, and economic 
decline has led to cuts in services that once thrived in other regions, Ms. Johnson said. "Very 
few of our conferences have intentional leadership development," she said. "It's one thing for 
someone like myself to be empowered for co-ministry with both deaf and hearing church 
members. But deaf United Methodists never get to be elected as board chairs. Our 
denomination needs to make that jump where we say, 'We want them to be empowered for 
ministry in the church.'"

From United Methodist Review (Aug. 29, 2003). Bill Fentum is Associate Editor of the United 
Methodist Review.


HOW TO OPEN YOUR CONGREGATION TO DEAF MEMBERS AND VISITORS

       Install assistive-listening systems that deliver sounds with minimal distortion from 
microphones to those who are hard-of-hearing.

       Hire qualified sign-language interpreters for worship services, meetings, classes, and 
fellowship activities.

       Use visual arts—such as maps, slides, banners, and liturgical dance—as often as 
possible.

       Have a hearing note-taker available at church meetings to record deliberations and 
voting for those who are hearing-impaired.

       Have a closed-captioning decoder or a television manufactured after July 1, 1993, with 
a closed-captioning decoder mandated by the ADA for showing videos to the congregation.

       Install text telephones in offices that convert phone signals to visible print.

       Offer sign-language classes for hearing members, or encourage them to carry a pad 
and pen to communicate with deaf members and visitors.

Adapted from United Methodist Review (Aug. 29, 2003).


DOES YOUR CHURCH CELEBRATE DISABILITY AWARENESS SUNDAY?

       Disability Awareness Sunday...shall be observed on a date to be determined by the 
annual conference. Disability Awareness Sunday calls the Church to celebrate the gifts and 
graces of persons with disabilities and calls the Church and society to full inclusion of persons 
with disabilities in the community. If the annual conference so directs, an offering may be 
received and the funds used by the annual conference to promote the work of creating 
architectural and attitudinal accessibility in local churches.... 

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (2000), §265(4)


IT'S SO DAILY
By Hendrik [Henk] G. Wapstra

       A friend of mine and I were discussing some of the problems connected with our 
disabilities, and she summed it up by saying, "The main problem with a physical handicap is 
that it's so daily!" I couldn't have agreed with her more. 
	The daily struggle with difficulty is different from the discomfort of a cold or the pain of 
recovering from surgery or a broken leg. Health problems like these are usually cured with the 
passing of time. 
	Not so with physical disability. We wake up every morning with the same set of 
circumstances. Even when we have learned to live with the disability and adjusted to the 
limitations, the daily struggle is still there.
	Yesterday my alarm clock awakened me from a dream, and for an instant I planned to 
fling back the covers, swing my feet over the side, and hop out of bed. But I haven't done that 
for 30 years! 
	I quickly remembered my present system. The process I use now is similar to a work 
project. I have a series of 55 moves (I counted them!) which have to be done, but each move is 
necessary, and I must concentrate throughout the whole procedure in order to get into a sitting 
position and then maneuver from the bed into my wheelchair. Seven minutes is my best time. 
	I am very grateful I can do it by myself. But it's so daily!
	Occasionally I feed a friend of mine who has cerebral palsy. While helping her I have 
often thought, "I'll bet she would love the chance to eat dinner by herself." Every meal, 
everyday, she eats according to someone else's routine or taste—meat, potatoes, vegetable, 
salad. Maybe she'd like to eat all her potatoes at once for a change! 
	She never complains, but it must be frustrating. It's so daily!
	Another handicapped friend once said to me, "If only I could take care of myself in the 
bathroom. I would feel so much better about myself. I get so tired of having to have someone 
around to help me all the time." 
	Others would be so happy to be able to dress themselves or comb their own hair or 
brush their own teeth. In some instances these tasks can be done, but it takes them four or five 
times longer than the ordinary person. And it's so daily!
	But these same daily struggles have their own rewards for the ones who trust in God for 
their daily strength. God has promised, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25 
[KJV]). 
	We who are handicapped have more opportunities than most people to test the strength 
and sufficiency of God, because we must draw from him daily. We can depend on his promise, 
"My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12: 9 [KJV]).
	Each morning as I maneuver myself out of bed, I am reminded of the eleven years when 
I could not get out of bed without someone's help. Then I met a new therapist, and she worked 
out "my system." I thank God daily for having sent her my way. 
	Every day I am amazed by his goodness toward me, allowing me to live a full and happy 
life despite its limitations.

From Bridge Ministries (Seattle Area) website, 1995.


IN REMEMBRANCE: 
HOLLY ELLIOTT

       Holly Elliott first earned a degree in music from UCLA (she later said that no one could 
tell her as a deaf person what she couldn't do!). She then married, raised three children, and at 
the age of 50 returned to school to earn an MS in rehabilitation counseling, becoming possibly 
the first professionally-trained deaf counselor/therapist in the United States. 
	As President of the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf, Elliott was instrumental in 
persuading the 1992 General Conference to form a committee on developing deaf 
ministries—now known as the National Committee on Ministries with Deaf, Late-Deafened, Hard 
of Hearing, and Deaf-Blind People.
	Up until her death at the age of 82, Elliott was editing manuscripts on the theology of 
enablement. She will be remembered within the deaf community, the Church, and society at 
large for her efforts in helping us all to recognize and break the "sound barrier" to full inclusion 
of those who are hearing-impaired.

Based upon "In Memory of Holly Elliott," Signs of Change: The UMCD Newsletter (Spring 2003)


THE TREE OUTSIDE THE CHANCEL WINDOW   
By Jack Strout

	(Rev. John (Jack) Strout contracted polio at a young age and was known later in life as a 
"polio survivor." Ordained a United Methodist minister, he pastored churches in the Northeast 
Ohio Conference and later served as Minister of Education in California-Pacific Conference 
churches. Jack died in June 2003 at the age of 80, but he was more than just a "survivor." He 
inspired all of us to move above and beyond whatever circumstances we found ourselves in just 
as he himself did. Below is one of Jack's essays we first reprinted in the Fall 1999 issue of 
Wings. — Editor)

       There was a large evergreen tree among the shrubs and bushes just outside and a bit 
to the right as you looked out the chancel window behind the altar of the Claremont [Calif.] 
United Methodist Church. Sometimes during worship services as I observed it, I thought, "What 
an ugly tree!" 
	It was misshapen, its branches of varying, not tapering, lengths, irregularly spaced with 
conspicuous gaps and protruding at different angles. It was far from the ideal balanced and 
tapering Christmas tree, yet that was what it once was—a Christmas tree.
	It was in the early eighties that our then associate pastor arranged for the securing and 
later planting of the tree. Boy Scouts did both jobs. First, using a borrowed truck, they went to 
the Chino area where they selected the tree, dug it up, roots and all, placed it in a tub, and 
brought it to the church patio where, once decorated, it served as the Christmas tree for our first 
Alternate Christmas. In other years it served as our "Mitten Tree." On Sundays prior to 
Christmas, children and others brought mittens which they hung up on the tree to be donated to 
one of our missions. 
	Eventually the tree, five or six feet tall, outgrew its tub, and the Scouts transplanted it to 
its outside location. That was no mean feat considering the size of the hole that had to be dug 
and the quantity of rocks that had to be removed.
	I remember noting from the beginning how oddly and irregularly this tree was shaped. 
One could well imagine why this was so. It must have grown originally where other trees and 
foliage crowded it, denying it adequate space and light so that it reached out wherever it could 
to secure these necessities.	
	While it grew into a large and imposing tree, it still retained its odd shape. Yet it stood 
there among the abundant, living greenery that enhanced our worship as our altar's reredos—a 
living backdrop to the altar.
	That tree bore a striking resemblance in various ways to all of us. Everyone at 
numerous points in life has experienced deprivation or conflict of some sort and has reached out 
to compensate, often resulting in physical or personality "irregularities" that become a part of 
our characters. 
	Paralysis in all extremities has had profound effects upon my body and upon my spirit 
and personality as well. Others have had various "negative" family, educational, social, spiritual, 
as well as physical experiences which have affected their personalities as they sought to deal 
with them or overcome them. 
	But all of us, no matter how we "look," are privileged to stand in God's garden—just like 
that "ugly" tree—offering our testimony of praise and thanksgiving at God's altar.

Originally adapted from Beneath the Rainbow, a publication of the United Methodist Church of 
Claremont, Calif.


DOING   
By Edith Parker 

There is much I cannot do
Things I took for granted
Eating peas with a fork
Slipping into my jacket
One sleeve at a time
Without struggling for the collar
I miss the feel of the steering wheel
Giving me power over the huge machine
Need for alertness
Watching for the other's passing
I miss writing
Running
Having control over my footsteps
There are too many things on my list
I could spend too much energy missing
But I can smile
Make others laugh
Give warm hugs
Receive the same
I can give others pleasure in helping me
Transporting me where I need to go
I can listen
And listen
And listen 
                                         
10/31/02

Edith Parker is a longtime member of the First United Methodist Church in La Mesa, Calif.


NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITIONS, AND THEIR 
CAREGIVERS, TO GET A FLU VACCINATION! CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR OR A LOCAL 
CLINIC. 


I AM DISABLED AND...

	LORD, like Jacob I have a lifelong disability in which others may see a memorial to my 
struggles with you and a testimony to your blessing.

Affirmation #6 based on Genesis 32:24-31 by Ken Tittle and Mariposa Ministry and Mariposa 
Online.


HONOR ROLL OF APPRECIATION

We thank the following people or organizations whose gifts of time and/or money have made 
possible the publication and mailing of Wings:

Linda Ahnell
Jill Halley
Ruth Sciumbato 
Betty Salzmann
John Henker
Margery Chapman
Elisabeth Wall-Smith 
Norma Frempter
Nell Hong
Fred & Jessie Fahnestock
Burt Colby
Jean Dooley
Nina Redmon
Allen & Virginia Clark
Edith Parker
Rev. Ed Hoffman
Larry & Linda Bowersox
Rev. Nancy Wilson
Joe Rollins
Marilyn Rockwell


WINGS:  A non-official, non-profit quarterly newsletter published for, by and about United 
Methodist adults with disabling conditions

FOUNDER/EDITOR
COMPUTER LAYOUT/GRAPHIC DESIGN:  Jo D'Archangelis

Correspondence:  Send all correspondence—including feedback, original writings, items from 
other sources, and changes of address—to Jo D'Archangelis, Editor, at 

Mailing Address:  592 West Ammunition Road, Apt. 1,  Fallbrook, CA 92028   

Telephone/Fax:  [760] 723-2668 (please call before faxing)  

E-Mail:  jodarlis@aol.com

E-Wings:  Two e-mail versions of Wings are available for those with vision impairments and 
computer "reading" devices, those who have difficulty handling paper and print pages, those 
who live outside the USA, and those who just prefer computer viewing: (1.) A strictly e-mail 
version in unformatted text without graphics, and (2.) A formatted version with color graphics 
available to those able to open attached files in MS Publisher 2000 format. E-mail Jo 
D'Archangelis at jodarlis@aol.com to request either, or both, of these versions. 

Wings Online:  Beginning with the Fall 2002 issue, issues of Wings in their entirety may be 
accessed at www.cal-pac-ccdm.org/. Selected articles from back issues of Wings 1995-98 may 
be accessed at www.mariposa-ministry.org.

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Church Address: Fallbrook United Methodist Church, 1844 Winterhaven Road, 
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