The Emergence of Differing Abilities - A Social Justice Sermon
By Rev. Daniel Gregoire
Unitarian Universalist Society of Grafton and Upton
Sunday, April 28, 2024
A Reading:
The Beatitudes an early 2nd century text, excerpted
From the Gospel According to Matthew, Christian New Testament
5:3-9
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Homily:
On Social Justice Sunday we celebrate all the ways that faith moves us to make positive changes in our lives and in the world around us.
Our Social Justice Sunday is deeply allied with our spiritual theme of Emergence and this idea of bringing about surprisingly hopeful realities into a chaotic world.
One of the ways that we could do this, reenacting, this Emergence, by making our sacred spaces more beautiful, more welcoming, and ultimately more accessible.
One of the things that has really inspired me over the past few years, is the work of our congregation, the work that we have been undertaking as a congregation ( under the advice and the direction of the Accessibility Task Force); work that now flourishes with the leadership of our new Lift Up Committee.
These groups, now combined, have been working to make our 150 year old Meetinghouse more accessible to all people with limited mobility.
The first part of their work was to build a unique sidewalk that serves as a ramp to the first floor via a powered motorized door. This work has made it easier for someone who uses a wheelchair or walker to come to the first floor, and join us in the parlor or Fellowship Hall for worship.
Now the Lift Up Committee has embarked on a very ambitious Phase Two plan to get people with disabilities to our second floor sanctuary, where we usually hold our worship services and other important gatherings.
So who are these people that we are hoping to worship with on Sundays and at other times?
Who are these people that we're hoping to welcome for weddings, memorials, funerals, vigils, lectures, concerts and other public enrichment opportunities?
They are people that we know, they are our friends, our family members - ourselves, perhaps at a future date.
They are us!
They are people who use canes, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs or scooters.
These are people with leg injuries, or who are missing parts of their anatomy. They are army veterans.
They are people who are short of breath or have low stamina and anyone who simply needs to use an elevator.
Having an elevator from the first to the second floors of our building has been a long held dream going back at least 20 years with actual architectural drawings, and possibly longer than that.
It has always been our dream to worship together, celebrate life together, without the stairs being an impediment.
Over the years I have seen old people and young people struggle to get up the granite steps and the double staircase with a low railing, to get into the sanctuary.
I have seen a youth with a sports injury, a sprained ankle and using crutches struggle to get up the stairs.
I have seen a matriarch of the church, recently deceased, but at the time desperate to be a part of a Christmas Eve service, carried upstairs by her grandchildren. (The grandchildren did not come prepared to carry her up the stairs) That was her last Christmas Eve service with us.
Every Sunday at least one but often two or three people slowly make their way up the stairs, allowing others to pass them, knowing that they need more time to navigate the stairs.
And over the years there are those I've seen who stop coming all together.
I have spoken to these people and they tell me that they only have so much energy in a given day, and they just can't spend it on going up the stairs. and so they tune into the Sunday broadcast on Facebook live at home.
For a number of people, people that I've known, people that you’ve known, people who have since passed on or simple moved on, as they become less and less mobile, the church becomes less and less welcoming, until finally they have no choice but to stop coming to what has defaulted into a hostile environment for them.
To me the great tragedy in all of this, and it is a tragedy, a tragedy in three parts, is this:
The first part is a loss of community at the time when it is perhaps needed the most.
The second part is the spectacular failure of living up to our highest ideals, welcoming being chief among them .
And the third part of the tragedy is the way that the world shrinks us into isolation as we come closer and closer to our own mortality.
So often in our community the loss of mobility coincides with chance illness or sudden injury, the death of a beloved spouse, the move to new and strange housing and sometimes all of these things happening simultaneously.
(It is analogous to to kicking someone when they are already down, down the the stairs)
It's painful for me to watch these events, and I'm sure it is far more devastating for those who are actually living life through these upheavals.
Not being able to come to church is not some kind of inevitable condition, or force of nature, but rather the result of the choices, some of them, very bad choices and shortsighted choices, we’ve made about how we want to be as a community, and how we want to use our sacred space.
In all of this, I am reminded of my own fate, if you will, our common destiny, we all share.
We are born and after a time we will die, and along the way we will travel through various forms of disability in our living .
It is important to remember that we are mortal, and more than that we are all temporarily able-bodied people.
Many of us are temporarily in good health, we are temporarily able to move from one building to the next.
We are temporarily able to move from one activity to the next without too much struggle otherwise we would not be here today.
I hope that the knowledge that we are all temporarily able physically, as well as mentally might help us to appreciate the gift of the present moment .
I hope that this reminder helps us to rejoice greatly and to be grateful, as well as humble for everything that we have.
I hope that this knowledge inspires our compassion for ourselves and greater empathy for those who are in fact disabled people now.
I hope this knowledge moves us to action and positive change right where we are! In this meetinghouse.
Ultimately, I hope that this knowledge allows us to appreciate how disability is an indelible part of the normal human experience, not the exception but the rule.
In our exploration of the rights of disabled people to equal dignity and access we are talking about our sacred shared humanity.
We are talking about seeing people with disabilities as whole people.
We're talking about a quality of experience and a recognition in the face of people with disabilities the very image of God.
(The very image of God. Imagine. If God shows up to UUSGU in a wheelchair do we send them to the parlor for worship?)
Our church is a place where we practice and refine the art of being human, yes we encounter the Holy in a distinctly human shape and color.
Our spiritual practice will ultimately get us nowhere, if we are actively sustaining an environment and a culture that is hostile to those of different abilities, especially our friends and family members with limited mobility .
That is why we must put the elevator in this meetinghouse.
In our reading this morning from the Christian classics that the beatitudes, or blessings we are transported to a startlingly hopeful world where there is a subversive reordering of society.
In this imagined place, the poor, the meek, those who are mourning and those who are persecuted are elevated. They are literally lifted up.
They're taken from the margins from the very edges of the societies where they live and brought to the center and they inherit the earth and they are blessed!
In this reading those with marginalized identities, those on the very edge of acceptance, people who for all intents and purposes have been rendered disabled by the societies in which they live have a tremendous opportunity, and the ultimate destiny of being seen as whole people, as the very image of the sublime.
What is more than that, in their different abilities, they are blessed, which is to say happy or satisfied.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Our disabled siblings, in their proximity to the spirit of life, help us to recognize our own closeness to the sources of our living.
(If these ones are welcomed in the commonwealth of holy, might they be welcomed here too?)
And, in imagining and creating a built environment, an architecture of the spirit, where we can all be together with equal dignity, and access in our worship experience, we co-create a place where all souls can truly grow into harmony with the divine.
Our Unitarian universalist tradition invites us to play an active and vital part in the emergence of this new social order in the world, where everyone is seen, valued and included in worship.
Our sixth Unitarian universalist principle guides us towards the goal of a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.
This must include our sisters, brothers and friends with visible and invisible disabilities.
So I ask you what part are we playing in bringing about this bright future into the present?
How are we making our shared social spaces accessible to all and a blessing to all people, especially those with limited mobility and who need special assistance?
Our call to action today is to bring the mountain low, to lift up the valleys, to make the rough places smooth.
So, let us eliminate the arcane barriers to entry and remove all the obstacles to full participation in the life of our beloved community, by building a beautiful elevator in our iconic meetinghouse.
Nota Bene:
We have an incredible opportunity to make our dreams of a more accessible meetinghouse and a more inclusive faith a reality. Many generous individuals and families, area businesses and local organizations have already contributed to this important project, and we are already past our half way mark in our fundraising goal.
You can support the work of the Lift Up Committee by making a multi-year pledge of financial support to the “Lift Up Campaign” or a one time financial gift. Follow this link to learn more https://www.uusgu.org/donate
You can also support the fundraising events and programs that will take place over the coming year to make the elevator a reality. No monetary gift is too large or too small in this efforts, and you can help us to spread the word in the local community about this important campaign by sharing this link https://www.uusgu.org/liftup-campaign and sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings with Lift Up.
By Rev. Daniel Gregoire
Unitarian Universalist Society of Grafton and Upton
Sunday, April 28, 2024
A Reading:
The Beatitudes an early 2nd century text, excerpted
From the Gospel According to Matthew, Christian New Testament
5:3-9
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Homily:
On Social Justice Sunday we celebrate all the ways that faith moves us to make positive changes in our lives and in the world around us.
Our Social Justice Sunday is deeply allied with our spiritual theme of Emergence and this idea of bringing about surprisingly hopeful realities into a chaotic world.
One of the ways that we could do this, reenacting, this Emergence, by making our sacred spaces more beautiful, more welcoming, and ultimately more accessible.
One of the things that has really inspired me over the past few years, is the work of our congregation, the work that we have been undertaking as a congregation ( under the advice and the direction of the Accessibility Task Force); work that now flourishes with the leadership of our new Lift Up Committee.
These groups, now combined, have been working to make our 150 year old Meetinghouse more accessible to all people with limited mobility.
The first part of their work was to build a unique sidewalk that serves as a ramp to the first floor via a powered motorized door. This work has made it easier for someone who uses a wheelchair or walker to come to the first floor, and join us in the parlor or Fellowship Hall for worship.
Now the Lift Up Committee has embarked on a very ambitious Phase Two plan to get people with disabilities to our second floor sanctuary, where we usually hold our worship services and other important gatherings.
So who are these people that we are hoping to worship with on Sundays and at other times?
Who are these people that we're hoping to welcome for weddings, memorials, funerals, vigils, lectures, concerts and other public enrichment opportunities?
They are people that we know, they are our friends, our family members - ourselves, perhaps at a future date.
They are us!
They are people who use canes, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs or scooters.
These are people with leg injuries, or who are missing parts of their anatomy. They are army veterans.
They are people who are short of breath or have low stamina and anyone who simply needs to use an elevator.
Having an elevator from the first to the second floors of our building has been a long held dream going back at least 20 years with actual architectural drawings, and possibly longer than that.
It has always been our dream to worship together, celebrate life together, without the stairs being an impediment.
Over the years I have seen old people and young people struggle to get up the granite steps and the double staircase with a low railing, to get into the sanctuary.
I have seen a youth with a sports injury, a sprained ankle and using crutches struggle to get up the stairs.
I have seen a matriarch of the church, recently deceased, but at the time desperate to be a part of a Christmas Eve service, carried upstairs by her grandchildren. (The grandchildren did not come prepared to carry her up the stairs) That was her last Christmas Eve service with us.
Every Sunday at least one but often two or three people slowly make their way up the stairs, allowing others to pass them, knowing that they need more time to navigate the stairs.
And over the years there are those I've seen who stop coming all together.
I have spoken to these people and they tell me that they only have so much energy in a given day, and they just can't spend it on going up the stairs. and so they tune into the Sunday broadcast on Facebook live at home.
For a number of people, people that I've known, people that you’ve known, people who have since passed on or simple moved on, as they become less and less mobile, the church becomes less and less welcoming, until finally they have no choice but to stop coming to what has defaulted into a hostile environment for them.
To me the great tragedy in all of this, and it is a tragedy, a tragedy in three parts, is this:
The first part is a loss of community at the time when it is perhaps needed the most.
The second part is the spectacular failure of living up to our highest ideals, welcoming being chief among them .
And the third part of the tragedy is the way that the world shrinks us into isolation as we come closer and closer to our own mortality.
So often in our community the loss of mobility coincides with chance illness or sudden injury, the death of a beloved spouse, the move to new and strange housing and sometimes all of these things happening simultaneously.
(It is analogous to to kicking someone when they are already down, down the the stairs)
It's painful for me to watch these events, and I'm sure it is far more devastating for those who are actually living life through these upheavals.
Not being able to come to church is not some kind of inevitable condition, or force of nature, but rather the result of the choices, some of them, very bad choices and shortsighted choices, we’ve made about how we want to be as a community, and how we want to use our sacred space.
In all of this, I am reminded of my own fate, if you will, our common destiny, we all share.
We are born and after a time we will die, and along the way we will travel through various forms of disability in our living .
It is important to remember that we are mortal, and more than that we are all temporarily able-bodied people.
Many of us are temporarily in good health, we are temporarily able to move from one building to the next.
We are temporarily able to move from one activity to the next without too much struggle otherwise we would not be here today.
I hope that the knowledge that we are all temporarily able physically, as well as mentally might help us to appreciate the gift of the present moment .
I hope that this reminder helps us to rejoice greatly and to be grateful, as well as humble for everything that we have.
I hope that this knowledge inspires our compassion for ourselves and greater empathy for those who are in fact disabled people now.
I hope this knowledge moves us to action and positive change right where we are! In this meetinghouse.
Ultimately, I hope that this knowledge allows us to appreciate how disability is an indelible part of the normal human experience, not the exception but the rule.
In our exploration of the rights of disabled people to equal dignity and access we are talking about our sacred shared humanity.
We are talking about seeing people with disabilities as whole people.
We're talking about a quality of experience and a recognition in the face of people with disabilities the very image of God.
(The very image of God. Imagine. If God shows up to UUSGU in a wheelchair do we send them to the parlor for worship?)
Our church is a place where we practice and refine the art of being human, yes we encounter the Holy in a distinctly human shape and color.
Our spiritual practice will ultimately get us nowhere, if we are actively sustaining an environment and a culture that is hostile to those of different abilities, especially our friends and family members with limited mobility .
That is why we must put the elevator in this meetinghouse.
In our reading this morning from the Christian classics that the beatitudes, or blessings we are transported to a startlingly hopeful world where there is a subversive reordering of society.
In this imagined place, the poor, the meek, those who are mourning and those who are persecuted are elevated. They are literally lifted up.
They're taken from the margins from the very edges of the societies where they live and brought to the center and they inherit the earth and they are blessed!
In this reading those with marginalized identities, those on the very edge of acceptance, people who for all intents and purposes have been rendered disabled by the societies in which they live have a tremendous opportunity, and the ultimate destiny of being seen as whole people, as the very image of the sublime.
What is more than that, in their different abilities, they are blessed, which is to say happy or satisfied.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Our disabled siblings, in their proximity to the spirit of life, help us to recognize our own closeness to the sources of our living.
(If these ones are welcomed in the commonwealth of holy, might they be welcomed here too?)
And, in imagining and creating a built environment, an architecture of the spirit, where we can all be together with equal dignity, and access in our worship experience, we co-create a place where all souls can truly grow into harmony with the divine.
Our Unitarian universalist tradition invites us to play an active and vital part in the emergence of this new social order in the world, where everyone is seen, valued and included in worship.
Our sixth Unitarian universalist principle guides us towards the goal of a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.
This must include our sisters, brothers and friends with visible and invisible disabilities.
So I ask you what part are we playing in bringing about this bright future into the present?
How are we making our shared social spaces accessible to all and a blessing to all people, especially those with limited mobility and who need special assistance?
Our call to action today is to bring the mountain low, to lift up the valleys, to make the rough places smooth.
So, let us eliminate the arcane barriers to entry and remove all the obstacles to full participation in the life of our beloved community, by building a beautiful elevator in our iconic meetinghouse.
Nota Bene:
We have an incredible opportunity to make our dreams of a more accessible meetinghouse and a more inclusive faith a reality. Many generous individuals and families, area businesses and local organizations have already contributed to this important project, and we are already past our half way mark in our fundraising goal.
You can support the work of the Lift Up Committee by making a multi-year pledge of financial support to the “Lift Up Campaign” or a one time financial gift. Follow this link to learn more https://www.uusgu.org/donate
You can also support the fundraising events and programs that will take place over the coming year to make the elevator a reality. No monetary gift is too large or too small in this efforts, and you can help us to spread the word in the local community about this important campaign by sharing this link https://www.uusgu.org/liftup-campaign and sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings with Lift Up.