Reflection :: April 11

Parishioner Scot Matkovich shares the following reflection:

When we adopted our son, Alicia and I joined several communities. One was the community of joyful parents of infants. Another was the community of successful adopters, which at the same time meant that we were leaving the community of expectant but seemingly eternally-waiting pre-adoptive parents. The third type of community was one that we would not have chosen, but was inextricably bound with the other two – and that is the community of rare diseases.

A metabolic disorder that could be treated by careful diet restrictions and some supplements didn’t seem beyond our capabilities. However, we were soon to find out that this wasn’t the only genetic glitch that was going to present a challenge. There was a second, which has made a much greater difference in all of our lives.

Anyone who has met our son knows that he is special. To badly paraphrase a famous novel, all God’s children are special, but some are more special than others. There are great strengths amongst those with his syndrome, but also great challenges. One of those challenges is finding a community that will really accept him for who he is; even when that acceptance requires being open to difficulties that a community may not have had to accommodate before.

When we moved to Indianapolis over five years ago, we were surprised by grace in many ways. We were blessed with a home that had been lovingly cared for by its previous owners, who you may well know; a couple named John and Stephanie. We had performed a little research into churches and started attending one of the first candidates (in all honesty the list was not long). Nonetheless, when we received some mail addressed to the previous home owners, whose taste in books and furnishings we had appreciated when considering homes, we realized that John was a Reverend. In brief, we tracked him down to St Paul’s and found ourselves instantly welcomed from the start. It helps that Alicia sings and was recruited to the choir on our first visit, but if we hadn’t found a good fit for our son I’m not sure we would have stayed.

So many people at St Paul’s have shown him God’s love by stepping up and making room for his challenges, helping him to participate as fully as he can in the life of this church community. It’s never easy to be different to a majority. St Paul’s has made demonstrable and expanding efforts to welcome in folks of all backgrounds, especially for those whose ethnic background and/or gender identity have led them to feel excluded from other groups. Having been called to the rare disease community, perhaps the gift our family has for St. Paul’s is to help make it even more a place where the neurodiverse and the differently abled are not only tolerated and accepted, but celebrated and supported.

Scot Matkovich, St. Paul's Parishioner