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Calls to Worship Leader: With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? People: Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Leader: Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? People: Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Leader: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you? All: To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. Written by Jean Keith, hospice chaplain, Portland, OR Leader: Praise the Lord! Praise God in the sanctuary. People: Praise God with heart and voice. Leader: Praise God with bodies that are able and differently able. People: Praise God with minds and bodies. Leader: Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! People: Praise the Lord! All: Praise the Lord! Written by Thomas Binford, Portland United Methodist Church, Portland, TN On this day we stand to open our hearts and minds to the unique gifts that people with mental retardation, mental illness or other disabilities and their families bring to our congregation. To the church of Galatia, Paul paid this rare tribute, "Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself." (Galatians 4:14) It is Christ's expectation that we embrace everyone within our church regardless of intellectual, emotional or spiritual abilities. We ask God's guidance as we welcome those with disabilities or mental illness and their loved ones into the life of our congregation with a compassionate and sustained response. Let's worship God who loves us all- Litanies Psalm 130 One: O Lord, you have searched me and known me; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and are acquainted with all my ways. All: Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence. Your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast. One: For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. All: I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. One: How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them. I come to the end - I am still with you. All: Search me, O God, and know my heart; lead me in the way everlasting. Amen. Written by Jean Keith, hospice chaplain, Portland, OR Leader: We pray for all of God's creation and people everywhere. People: No one is excluded from the love of God. Leader: We pray for those whom we have shut out of the church and distanced from the love of God. People: Give us courage to open our lives to all people. Leader: We are thankful for people with abilities and disabilities; limitations and possibilities. People: Let our arms be as open as the heart of God. All: Thanks be to God. Amen Written by Thomas Binford, pastor, Portland United Methodist Church, Portland, TN Hymns From Hymnal: A Worship Book "Healer of Our Every Ill," No. 377 "I Bind My Heart This Tide," No. 411 "I Will Raise You Up," No. 596 "In the Bulb There is a Flower," No. 614 "Move in Our Midst," No. 418 "Tis Not With Eyes of Flesh We See," No. 571 "We Walk By Faith," No. 570 "Will You Let Me Be Your Servant," No. 307 "Help Us Accept Each Other" In the tune of "The Church's One Foundation" Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us, as sister, brother, each person to embrace. Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live. Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life. We struggle to be human and search for hope and faith. Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some, to love them as we find them or as they may become. Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved in living situations to do the truth in love, to practice your acceptance until we know by heart the table of forgiveness and laughter's healing art. Lord, for today's encounters with all who are in need, who hunger for acceptance, for righteousness and bread. We need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on: renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us; make us one! Fred Kaan, Hope Publishing Co., Reprinted under License #8805 When Welcoming In Jesus' Name In the tune of "My Hope Is Built" Through Jesus Christ our Risen Lord the Spirit came and was outpoured, creating out of many one: one fellowship on earth begun. When welcoming in Jesus' name, we share the love of God we claim. What God began at Pentecost is often marred and even lost, when yearning hearts are kept at bay by barriers left in the way. When welcoming in Jesus' name, we share the love of God we claim. O Spirit of the Lord descend, bring all exclusion to an end, melt hearts of stone, raze every wall, unite the lives you gift and call. When welcoming in Jesus' name, we share the love of God we claim. Where hearts and doors are open wide, Invocation Prayer Our gracious God, we come together as a diverse people with differing limitations and abilities. We want to appear strong and yet weakness is our constant companion. No matter what the outsides of ourselves say, no matter how we are perceived by others as disabled or "normal" we are all the same in our need of You. Looking upon our hearts you see us only as Your children. For this we are truly thankful. Accept now our worship as an offering of praise. In the name of our Savior we pray. Amen. Written by Cady Laycook, South Bay Community, Redondo Beach, Calif. Prayer God, help us to respect people with mental retardation, mental illness or other disabilities and their families rather than to ignore or pity them. In difficult conditions, be with us all. In darkness, grant us wisdom that we may know your will. In times of intense emotion, grant us calm that we may know your peace. In the light, grant us awareness that all may know your love. Unite us all, one body in your love. Amen. Written by Merle Landes, cofounder of the Della Landes Foundation Prayer of Confession Leader: Oh God, we know you tell us to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame so that we may share your goodness but out of fear we cling to the old ways and deny any with blemish their place at your table. People: Forgive us, merciful Creator, for following human wisdom when we should be following yours. Leader: Oh God, we know that those we consider to be weaker are indispensable to you and yet we treat them profanely, forbidding them access to your sanctuary. People: Forgive us, merciful Creator, for failing to care for one another. Leader: Oh God, we know there are varieties of gifts, and it is you who activates all of them in everyone, but we say, "You do not belong to the body; I have no need for you" to those members of the body that we think less honorable. People: Forgive us, merciful Creator, for our failure to remember that all the members of the body, though many, are one body with Christ. People: Oh God, we know you chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise and what is weak in the world to shame the strong and yet we began to make excuses for the dissension that exists within the body and why we desire the greater honor. All: Forgive us, merciful Creator, for boasting of our own wisdom and our own discernment rather than recognizing the source of all life: Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from you. Help us to live in the one Spirit remembering we are all baptized into one body - broken or whole - and are all made to drink of the one Spirit that comes from you and you alone. Amen. Written by Jean Keith, hospice chaplain, Portland, OR Offertory Prayer Lord, we lift to you this offering, a small token of our great love for you, our God, and our response to the need of our fellow human beings. Be pleased to receive it and bless its reach and effectiveness as only you can do with your great bountiful grace. Through Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth. Amen. Written by Chalmer Faw, former Bethany Seminary Professor Offertory Prayer Loving and generous God, you have given us so much. Open our hearts so that we may receive the gifts offered by those seen as foolish in the world. Accept our offerings today as tokens of our lives dedicated to serving and honoring the whole body of Christ with all its members. Help us to always be receptive to your invitation to partake of your bounty. Help us to assure that none are likewise, denied the same invitation through acts of cruelty, indifference or apathy. Receive our meager gifts; receive our broken lives, receive our humbled hearts given in the name of Christ. Amen. Written by Jean Keith, hospice chaplain, Portland, OR
I Corinthians 12:12-27 - Theme of One Body with Many Members "Then the king will say to those at this right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'" - Matthew 25:34-37 In this scripture, Jesus teaches the importance of caregivers. He told of a king who said to those who had fed, given water to, welcomed, clothed and cared for others, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." Any care that we give one member of the family of God surely must honor God and the whole family of God. The caregivers of the world give from the spirit of God within them. And we are all caregivers. Sometimes that care includes feeding and clothing children or adults who cannot care for themselves. Other times we give an encouraging word or hug. We are caregivers as we let the love of God within us be expressed by us as caring words and actions. Compiled by Merle Landes, cofounder of the Della Landes Foundation "They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace." - Jeremiah 6:14 This passage speaks of our apathy and desire to think we have fixed "the problem" of welcoming those with disabilities into our midst, or that we don't have to think about accessibility because we have no disabled people in our churches. Walter Brueggemann suggests that God's healing begins with truth telling. "O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens." Psalm 71:17-18 "He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:29-31 "He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me. He confronted me in the day of my calamity; but the Lord was my support." - Psalm 18:16-19 Selected by Chalmer Faw, former Bethany Seminary professor Closing Statements and Benedictions Closing Statements of Affirmation and Commitment I will labor so that all persons may be enabled to gather before God in worship. Nancy Sollenberger Heishman, Church of the Brethren General Board Affirmation "For my house shall be a house of prayer for all people." (Isaiah 56:5) As God's creations, we are fashioned uniquely, each endowed with individuality of body, mind and spirit to worship freely the One who has given us life. Each of us has abilities; each seeks fulfillment and wholeness. Each of us has disabilities; each knows isolation and incompleteness. Seeking shelter from the vulnerability we all share, claiming our promised place in God's household of faith, we are transformed by invitation, affirmation and love. In grateful response, we worship and serve God, the source of hope and joy; celebrate and serve one another, rejoicing in our diversity; transform and serve the world, until we become a community which reflects God's Oneness and peace. Let the house of God be open to all who would enter and worship. Written by Merle Landes, cofounder of the Della Landes Foundation Benedictions Go forth with a willingness and comfort to serve our brothers and sisters with disabilities and be served by them. Go forth with a firm commitment to build a faith community where all are welcomed and included. Amen. Written by Merle Landes, cofounder of the Della Landes Foundation Benedictions Now may the blessings of God - Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, be upon you to keep you growing and fulfilling the calling which has been set upon you. In His precious name. Amen. Written by Chalmer Faw, former Bethany Seminary Professor Go now, knowing that you are loved; Go now, knowing that you are a child of God; Go now, knowing that God is with you always; Go now, knowing you are known by God. Written by Jean Keith, hospice chaplain, Portland, OR May the Lord send us forth from this place into the world with love and power to be witnesses by example and word to the open heart and open arms of the Christ who lives within and among us. AMEN. Written by Cady Laycook, South Bay Community, Redondo Beach, CA
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