Between the Sacramental and the Social.
A few weeks ago our friends at Disability and Jesus asked a question on
twitter - Is the sacramental more inclusive than free worship?
As a group we have experienced different
worship styles, each has its own set of problems, but each reflects God and
seeks to understand the divine. Comments to this tweet reflected the problems
of a false dichotomy and the potential to exclude irrespective of belief.
Almost everyone has attempted to be
inclusive in church, but we often fail. Inclusivity is neither a one off event,
nor a static phenomena, it is a process and a social one at that. Ten years ago
my parish priest tried to be inclusive by referring to God the father as God
the parent, needless to say it didn’t go down very well with the congregation.
This wasn’t because we were particularly nasty, but we wanted to see that
inclusivity reflected in action. We had several divorced people and single
mothers in the congregation, who were made to feel less than welcome in subtle
passive aggressive ways. Our deeds must reflect words, or in this case our
beliefs. My secular atheist friends don’t despise Christians for believing in
Christ, but for believing in Christ, listening to his words and then failing to
act according to those beliefs.
I am a minority who has been and continues
to be excluded from the Church either through policy, or by passive aggressive
means and sometimes aggressive means. In all these instances what offended is
that the people who didn’t want me around were acting against their own
beliefs. Clapping, incense, kneeling, the guitars are all nice in their own
way, each form of worship is seeking the same thing albeit in different ways.
However, all seem to ignore the people they are trying to include.
Those who belong to the more traditional
churches address the issue of discrimination through liturgy alone. A friend of
mine who is a Catholic priest often says to me ‘Catholic means universal, so we are all one and
therefore talking about minorities is divisive’. While I agree with him on the
definition of Catholic, my issue is not with liturgy, how mass is said or what
hymns are sung, it is how people are treated and made to feel welcome after
Mass is said.
Praying is powerful, as are the Sacraments,
however, they are not magic, sometimes direct action is required. For instance,
praying that disabled people enter our churches won’t magically make them
appear in church unless we make our churches accessible. Similarly, other
minority groups won’t appear unless we make an attempt to change the way we
talk to those minorities.
Forums such as ours and Disability and Jesus
are not attacking the sacramental side of things, but the social and cultural
aspects of the church. Those two aspects of the church are vital because they
determine the formation of our community. Friendly communities that are open to
strangers grow, they are healthy. Inclusivity is not a fad or political
correctness gone mad, it is our Christian duty to welcome strangers, to love
our neighbour as ourselves.
Disability and Jesus are hosting
a Christmas Service for disabled people and raising funds for the event. Click here
to contribute.
Contact
Disability and Jesus
Twitter- @DisabilityJ
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