Monday, March 25, 2019

Inclusion

March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day. We decided to celebrate this in worship:
Several people wore mismatched socks because chromosomes look like socks, and because we are all different and yet all needed and important.
We also had kids of all ages lead worship: they greeted people as they were coming in, they read prayers, Bible passages, and collected the offering. They also showed a "wall" of hurtful words and then passionately tore it down, to reveal a sheet of affirming, positive words behind it.
This was based on Ephesians 2:14-18. "Jesus tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He came and preached peace to outsiders and to insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals."
A young adult member of our church who has Down Syndrome spoke about his life and his plans for the future. 
As our closing song we sang Bryan Sirchio's "Stand with You:" If you find that you're locked out just because of who you are, or because of how you look or who you're with, well I may not have the power to unlock the doors myself, but I do believe God wants you to know this: You won't have to stand there alone. I know this because, I'll stand with you whenever you're excluded. I'll stand with you when you can't stand on your own. I'll stand with you when you're put down or wounded, 'cause that's what I know that Jesus would do."
In our world, many are still excluded because of who they are or how they look or who they're with. In our society, all are still not treated as equals. As the church of Jesus, we want to be a place where we practice what we preach. We want to welcome and include everybody, regardless of the boxes that society may put them in. We're not perfect. We still have lots of work to do to learn about racism, bigotry, inequality. But we want to learn. We want to do better. We want to do what Jesus would do. 

And this is why I love Trinity Church!

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