The sacred trust: Spiritual meaning-making among Indonesian parents of firstborn children with autism

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study explores how Indonesian parents theologically and spiritually interpret the experience of raising their firstborn child with autism spectrum disorder in a Javanese cultural context, drawing on in-depth interviews with eight parents – four Catholic and four Muslim – raising six sons and two daughters. The research reveals that spirituality functions not as a supplementary coping mechanism, but as the central axis of meaning-making, transformation and resilience. Findings show that parents consistently reframe their child not as a burden or divine punishment, but as a sacred trust [amanah], a barakah [blessing] or a divine ‘message’, deeply informed by Javanese values such as sabar [limitless patience], legowo [voluntary surrender] and dilakoni dulu [just live it first].
Contribution: This study introduces the ‘Sacred Trust Framework’, a culturally grounded model that integrates biblical and Islamic theology of firstbornness, Javanese-Kejawen cosmology and contemporary disability theology. The framework challenges Western, individualistic models of coping by centring relational spirituality, intergenerational care and embodied liturgies of daily life. By affirming that theology is lived not only in pulpits but in kitchens, therapy rooms, and the quiet perseverance of ordinary families, this research contributes to ‘theology from below’. It offers a counter-narrative to deficit-based paradigms of disability.