One of the most fun—and nerve-wracking—parts of Hope Heals Camp this year was writing & performing a song with Penny for the Talent Show. We rewrote a Miley Cyrus song and sang it together in front of 500 people! Hope Heals Camp—the beauty of celebrating every gift and seeing every person lifted up

“The proper distinction, theologically speaking, is not between the real and the ideal, but between the real and the unreal. Only the kingdom of heaven determines what is truly real... The world of sin, poverty, and death represents the unreal world that is destined to pass away.” -George Hunsinger

Catch up on Reimagining the Good Life, my podcast where I sit down with guests for conversations about disability, faith, and culture. We challenge assumptions about the good life, proclaim the inherent belovedness of every human being, and envision a world of belonging where everyone matters.

Sometimes we say that this world we live in, with all the stress and the success and the striving, is the real world. And then we enter into a place where every person we encounter is seen as beloved, where the gifts of each one are celebrated and the sorrows of each one are held with compassion...

Which world is real? The truest truth for the needy, weak, and vulnerable—for all of us… open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...

Which World Is Real?

The truest truth for the needy, weak, and vulnerable—for all of us {Plus two links worth your time}

open.substack.com

"Rather than focusing on her deficits—as some doctors, teachers, or therapists might inadvertently advise us to do—the dr told us to respond to things that interested her. Pay attention to what she loves & establish a relationship of mutual delight instead of frustration and a sense of inadequacy."

“Jürgen Moltmann said, ‘Hope is what faith ripens into.’ I can't claim to be great at this, but I have experienced it.” - Christian Wiman

I found that I couldn’t pray after the doctor told us that our daughter had Down syndrome. I didn’t have the words, the answers, or even the faith to know what to say. Yet there was tremendous comfort in realizing,

When I find myself worrying in the middle of the night about one of our children, I try to discipline myself to remember what I’m grateful for about who they are. I name the ways they bring goodness and joy into the world. I thank God for who they are, as they are. Sometimes delight is a discipline.

“I have experienced both a clarifying element in suffering… and I have experienced the opposite, the pulverizing effect of suffering.” - Christian Wiman

It sounds like a contradiction, but in a world as harried as ours, there’s a discipline to delight. I first learned to practice delight when Penny was a baby and a researcher told us the most important thing we could do as parents of a child with a disability was… open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...

The Discipline of Delight

Dishes and deadlines can wait, but first I have to choose delight. {Plus two links worth your time}

open.substack.com

“I saw God permeating through that group.” Christian Wiman wasn’t talking about a church service. He was talking about Team Franny, a group of friends who came together around a child with a disability and complex medical needs, offering care, love, and presence.

Poet Christian Wiman joins me to talk about pain, joy, doubt, and the lifelong hunger for God. Together, we explore a faith honest enough to hold both questions and hope. amyjuliabecker.com/christian-wi...

When God Feels Absent: How Faith Makes Room for Doubt and Hope with Christian Wiman - Amy Julia Becker

In this episode of Reimagining the Good Life, Amy Julia Becker talks with Christian Wiman about his book Glimmerings, faith amid suffering, spiritual longing, friendship across differences, and findin...

amyjuliabecker.com

I loved this conversation with @drmoore.bsky.social and Beth Moore talking to Daniel Nayeri about his books, Everything Sad is Untrue and Teacher of Nomad Land. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Daniel Nayeri AND Beth Moore on Everything Sad Becoming Untrue

Podcast Episode · The Russell Moore Show · July 8 · 56m

podcasts.apple.com

How do you prepare for a solo flight with Down syndrome? When someone with Down syndrome flies independently for the first time, there are a lot of questions: How do you navigate security? What support is available? What should you prepare ahead of time? Here's the advice I received from families:1/

The interdependence of independence - Independence doesn’t mean doing everything alone.

Disability shapes families through relationship, not just hardship. Brian Trapp describes growing up with his brother as an experience filled with caregiving, humor, friendship, and deep connection. Disability changed his family life in ways that were both challenging and profoundly meaningful.

I checked Delta Air Lines website and found this statement: “Connect the world. Reflect the world. Respect the world. As champions of connection, we bring people together, break down barriers, bridge divides and move the world forward... 1/

“God makes things distinct… not as better and worse…they’re just different.” - Brian Brock • Who Counts as Human?

Penny flew by herself for the first time on Saturday! “Are you feeling comfortable?” I asked her in the car. “Confident?” “Prepared?” ‘Yes,” was her answer to each question. 1/

“The nub of disability discrimination is right there… it positions us to see disability always as a falling short of the potential of the human.” - Brian Brock

Only 23% of adults with intellectual disabilities are employed. Penny has had some work experience, but for the past three summers, she hasn’t been able to find a job. The state of Connecticut has lost funding for programs that support this type of employment in recent years. 1/

“We begin to know ourselves and creation rightly only by throwing ourselves into the nerve-racking business of loving and being loved in return.” - Brian Brock

Penny got a job! Instead of deciding she couldn't work the register because counting change is difficult, this ice cream shop built an app that made the job accessible. But her summer job didn't begin with that app. It began… open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...

Penny Got a Job (And the Bigger Story)

Penny’s new role reveals decades of work and imagination to create belonging. Plus two links worth your time...

open.substack.com

We’re all human. We make mistakes. When it comes to repentance, @theradr.bsky.social explains that it’s about returning to the person you have been supposed to be all along. @amyjuliabecker.bsky.social

Why Forgiveness Isn’t the First Step with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

Podcast Episode · Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker · June 30 · 46m

buff.ly

Who counts as human? Theologian Brian Brock joins me to explore a life of connection, creatureliness, and love. We consider: - Social hierarchy and disability stigma - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, community, and moral responsibility - Human worth and personhood amyjuliabecker.com/creatureline...

Who Counts as Human? with Brian Brock, PhD - Amy Julia Becker

Explore creatureliness, disability, and the doctrine of creation with Brian Brock and Amy Julia Becker. Discover how Christian theology reframes human value, personhood, and the good life.

amyjuliabecker.com

I love Elizabeth Strout in general, and The Things We Never Say lived up to her earlier work. It's about a man named Artie Dam, a high school English teacher going through a rough year personally & within our current political climate. It’s understated and lovely and haunting and I highly recommend!

“Even if complete restoration is impossible, transformation is not. Repentance does not unbreak what has been broken so much as interrupt the cycle of repeated harms. Do we actually stop the wheel from turning and turning and turning in the same direction over and over and over again?”

Public accountability is still a timely issue. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg points to current events as evidence that public harm is still often met with image management or partial consequences rather than full accountability. The struggle between repentance and reputation is still very present today.

I wonder whether one of the gifts of middle age is in fact that ability to tune in to the gentler voice, the voice of love, to notice the anxious thoughts in the middle of the night, and to wonder about it all with curiosity instead of condemnation. 1/