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 sub...