YL Capernaum Everywhere

A Review of Molly Haslam's "A Constructive Theology of Intellectual Disability" by Pam Harmon We live in a world of stereotypes. We all assume things about people because of where they are from, their family, the school they go to, their disability, etc. We pass judgment because of race or religion without getting to know the person behind the label. For example, one of our immersion staff associates in Nashville went to school in the SEC, so people assume she LOVES football. She recently moved to Nashville and many people have assumed that she moved here to pursue a music career. In the past when she has told people that she is from Mississippi, they have asked her if she wears shoes (yes, that was a real question). Well, she does love football, she has zero musical talent, and believe it or not people from Mississippi do wear shoes. These are small examples of assumptions that people have made that haven’t really made an impact on her life, but sometimes assumptio...

This semester our YL Capernaum Immersion Staff Associates in Nashville have been given the opportunity to participate in a weekly study group with Jaco Hamman, professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School. We recently read and discussed the book The Disabled God by Nancy L. Eiesland. We realize that the world we live in has a lot of separation; race, gender, and religion are a few of the hot topics. There are many people who are aiming at unity, but we wonder if we are trying to fix a problem that wouldn’t be there if the “majority” group didn’t create the differences in the first place. In Eiesland’s book she states, “Unity is a worthwhile goal but a unity that silences the call of marginalized people for justice is not true unity.” If we are trying to create a oneness of people, she asks if we are engaging in dialogue with one another; are we getting to know what the marginalized group wants? Everyone in this world wants to be heard. We all want to be known and have someone listen. E...

During our Capernaum Pre-Conference at YL75, we had the privilege of hearing from Jaco Hamman. "It’s a privilege to be a witness to the amazing things that God is doing” Jaco takes us on a journey where we are so quickly reminded of the many privileges that we have as we are witness to what God is doing! What He is doing in scripture, what He is doing in the lives of our friends with disabilities and what He is doing in our communities! Jaco challenges and pushes us to dig in a bit to our theology, the church and our role with our friends with disabilities. You’ll walk away from this video feeling challenged, encouraged, fist pumping and with a list of questions. The beauty of Jaco is that he invites all of that from us, just as Jesus does. We know he says not to take notes, but as my friend Molly always says “trust me on this one”...Grab a cup of coffee, a pen and notebook, and enjoy Jaco !

Sophia met Jesus at YL Camp this summer, when she attended camp with her area, NW Arkansas. This video is a great picture of a leader being invested in a high school friend, the simple pleasures of camp and the amazing capturing love of Jesus! Enjoy….

No one can deny that people are suffering in the world around us. And so we often wonder, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Who REALLY has a good answer to that? There are many different theologies out there to answer this question, but how many of those answers help the person dealing with the news that they have cancer? In John Swinton ’ s Raging with Compassion, Swinton suggests that the problem may not be trying harder to answer that question but instead that we are asking the wrong question. Rather than asking, ‘Why does God allow evil? ’ maybe we should start asking, ‘What does God do in response to evil? ’   When we focus on God’s response in the midst of evil, we are reminded that suffering is temporary, and that God is redeeming the evil in the world. By reframing this question, Swinton suggests that we create strategies to work through suffering as a community by loving each other and never forgetting that God loves us.   This semester our Immersio...