Pride & Penitence

What if your disability isn't a punishment — and the healing you need isn't a cure?

As Paradox wraps up its Pride series, guest speaker Christian Barrera-Sandri brings a deeply personal message connecting Psalm 38's "penitent's plea for healing" to the overlapping experiences of queerness and disability. Drawing from his husband's 20-year journey with diabetes, his father's kidney transplant and ongoing fight for disability justice, and his own unexplained seizure episode, Christian challenges the idea that illness, disability, or queerness are signs of God's punishment — and points instead to what Jesus actually offers: not a magic cure, but a restored community.

🔑 What we cover:

• Psalm 38 and the ancient question: "Is this my fault?"
• John 9 and Matthew 9 — how Jesus responds to those seeking healing, and to a community that gatekeeps who's "worthy" of it
• Why queerness and disability are overlapping, not competing, spectrums of human experience
• HIV/AIDS as a present reality, not a relic of the past, in queer life and disability conversation
• Shalom: the Old Testament concept of healing as peace, justice, and belonging — not just physical cure

Whether you're navigating a chronic illness, loving someone who is, or just rethinking what healing really means, this message invites you into a more honest, more compassionate picture of community.

Paradox Church | Redlands, CA
paradoxredlands.com | @paradoxredlands

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