I recently saw an amazingly inspiring movie, "Praying With Lior". I personally found this movie on Netflix but I also know you can find it elsewhere like on the movie's and movement's website: http://www.prayingwithlior.com.
This movie is about a boy named Lior who loves to pray to God. He is Jewish, and in the Jewish tradition praying is done by chanting and/or singing; praying is also done often. If you have ever seen a group of Jewish people pray you will notice that they rock to the beat and this is done to fully embody the prayer to God, and Lior surely embodied his prayers. Lior is a boy who is turning 13 years old, which means that it is time for his Bar Mitzvah. For any Jewish 12, almost 13, year old boy this is a very exciting day; this is the day when you become a man. During this worship service celebration it is that 13 year old boy that leads the worship service. He has to recite and read scripture in the Hebrew language (which means they need to know how to read Hebrew), and hecreates a sermon or message that expresses to the congregation how God has influenced him and how he understand God in his life.
This is a huge responsibility for any 13 year old boy or girl, because it takes a lot of preparation work, and learning time. Lior has Down Syndrom and had to work very hard to prepare for this moment in his life. This meant he had to take extra time to consider and think critically who was God to him. But not only was this a huge learning experience for Lior, this was an enormous learning experience for his father and family. They started to have doubts and kept wanting to assume limits to what Lior was capable of, not only in his Bar Mitzvah, but also in his everyday life and future. An example of this was when Lior's father took Lior to his baseball game. While it is wonderful that at Lior's age they can encourage a team to be inclusive and have Lior play, at some point in Lior's life the game won't be about letting him play or not; the game will be about whether or not he or anyone is good enough to play on the team. While his father was worrying about all of this and if Lior was going to be upset if he couldn't hit the ball and strike out; Lior did strike out, but moved on and took it as any other child. Lior and his team was disapointed, but he and team moved on and was immediately happily supportive of one another.
I think it is all too easy to worry about how people with disabilities may feel in case of rejection, or disappointment. So then instead we try and protect them and keep them from experiencing life in fear that they maybe hurt by others. The reality is that all people need to experience happiness and disappointment because that is life. The father learned that he can advocate for his son's rights and inclusion, but just like every one else there are going to be disappointments in life. The father mentions, in the movie, that he knows he can't protect his son through everything. The problem with this reality is that it is hard to know where the line is between being supportive and overprotective or keeping a person from living their life.
Now something else you should know about Lior is that his birth mother died when he was pretty young, but he remembers her and he remembers praying/signing with her. He continues to pray all the time, when he is at school, playing on the playground, walking on the street, at home, wherever he goes. He says that he still prays with her. It is beautiful to watch because he doesn't pray carelessly, but he prays with his heart. An interesting question that is raised is if Lior is specially connected to God or more Godly than others. So is Lior more Godly than others because he has such a gift for praying and reminds the people around him of the importance and beauty of prayer? Or is the story of Lior a reminder that God blesses ALL people with gifts. Why is it that we are so surprised that Lior has a gift from God and something to teach his congregation and the people around him? Why are we so surprised that Lior is smart and has something to share with the world?
Anyway, I am sharing some thoughts I had from a beautiful and touching story. I encourage you to see it and visit the website. It will touch your heart as it did mine. I would love to know your thoughts if you see the movie.
