Yesenia Rodriguez Blog #5 July 17th, 2022 - Disabled God and Grassroots Organizing

 Hey Everyone, 

Another great week has flown by. 

This week we read Chapter 28, “Touching The Wounds of a Disabled God” from the book, We Cry Justice. It changed my perspective on how I view the story of Jesus after his resurrection. After he had risen, he no longer had the same body he had before. Instead, he had wounds on his hands and feet from when he was crucified. His body was physically altered. He was not just a poor, hungry, Jewish, person of color - he was also disabled from the mutilation he endured on his body. 

This chapter made me think more of what a privilege it is to be physically abled, and how blessed I am with the body God has given me. We must learn how to care for our bodies and each other’s bodies. Nobody is a burden, and everybody should receive the accommodations they need without feeling like they are a burden. So we must reflect on how we care for others, and, also, how we care for our own bodies. 

The chapter also touched on faith and how faith is not something we just have or are born with. It is something to be explored and something we are supposed to grow in. The chapter talked about Thomas, the “doubting disciple.” He, unlike the other disciples, wanted Jesus to show where the nails were on his hands and feet. He questioned Jesus, unlike the others, to see if he actually was who he said he was after he had risen. He needed to see it to believe it. Many have painted him out to be a negative figure in the Bible today, but the chapter talked about how we should reexamine how we look at Thomas. 

Thomas was right to want to question Jesus. We should be exploring every aspect of our faith so we may grow in it. God gave us free will for a reason. He made us into questioning beings who constantly want to investigate and examine our world, including our faith. If faith worked like 2 + 2 = 4, then it would not be faith anymore. It would just be knowledge. That is why it is called a “leap of faith.” We are not supposed to fully just know. That’s why we should explore and ask questions about our religion. It is not unfaithful or non-Christian like. I think it is how God meant it to be. 

This past Friday we also met with Nica Sy, a former intern and EYA alumni who is a local grassroots organizer in
Kent, Washington. I feel so grateful for meeting her as we got to talk about grassroots organizing and bringing back power to the masses instead of just a few in power. Many people talk about how we must climb the ladder and wait until we are rich enough or powerful enough to make a change, but we can make a change right now as a community. She is a part of organizations like ForFortyTwo, Anakbayan, and API Chaya, as well as being one of the contributors to the book Nourish. I loved talking about the difference between organizing, activism, and advocacy with her and the other interns. As a former organizer, I really miss the work and working with people in my community, and hope to get back into it after college. Right now, I move around a lot so it has been extremely difficult to organize a community. Looking forward to some stability after college to build more around me. I am also hoping I can organize people in my neighborhood by using the church, showing religion and politics are not separate but actually very intersectional like other parts of our identities. 

This was a very good Friday and has given me a lot of energy for my work. :)