​Hello, everyone, my name is Iris and I'm a rollinator. I'm so glad to be joining the Harren family and the LCMM family! I'm grateful that with me along, Pastor Jess has freedom of movement and the ability to heal her joints.  I know it might be strange for some of you think of mobility aids as freedom, but that is exactly why I exist.  With support, people are fee to enjoy life, to think clearly not overwhelmed by pain, and to be as active as they'd like to be.  

I wanted to give you a chance to get to know me now because I feel shy about meeting you this Sunday. If you have questions, please ask before Sunday. I'm hoping that by letting you get to know me here, Sundays can stay focused on worship and Jesus.  Especially this Sunday when I really want to help celebrate our confirmands!

For those who may not know, Pastor Jess lives with a rare genetic syndrome called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.  It means that her connective tissue is too loose, which affects multiple systems in her body.  I'm here to help heal the joint injuries by providing support and freedom of movement, and allowing her to take weight off both legs at the same time.  Sprains heal much faster when joints are allowed to rest and new ones are less likely to happen with the support I can provide. Pastor Jess and her doctors are working on a long term plan to limit future sprains, but those plans will take at least a year.  

It might seem strange for you to see someone who is "too young" or "doesn't look sick" to use me.  Recently, a little girl said to Pastor Jess, "I've never seen a person like you before."  I hope that by having me as part of your congregation, you will get to see the expansive ways that people with disabilities of all ages live in the world around them.  Also, if you are interested, Pastor Jess has done significant work on ableism in the church and can provide some resources for you, including a recent sermon at another congregation and some blog posts.  

Here is how I'd like to be treated as a member of our congregation:

1. Consider me a part of Pastor's body.  Ask before you touch.  Only move me if Pastor asks you to.   
2. Assume that Pastor and I are getting along great and are meeting each other's needs. 
3. Trust that if Pastor needs help, she will ask for it. 
4. Realize that there is nuance to healing joints and it is not straightforward.  Pastor may use me for some of the time or all of time.  Some days or moments she may need me more than others.  Trust that Pastor knows what healing looks like for her. 
5. Feel free to say "Hi, Iris" if you want to.  
6. Let the focus of Sundays be on worship, especially before worship and when greeting at the end of worship.  Save your questions for quieter times or the end of fellowship time, or call or e-mail Pastor anytime.  
7. Remember that Jesus was also disabled by the nails in his body both before and after his resurrection.  This helps Pastor be close to Jesus.  

Ok!  Thanks for the chance to tell you about myself.  I can't wait to help show our confirmands how much they can trust that Jesus will always be with them, through everything life throws their way.  Let's celebrate this Sunday the mighty faith of these young women.  

Yours,  Iris

As I am often in a position to tell small children this story, here's the way I tell it. 

In the beginning was God and a mess (chaos).  God wanted to help bring order out of the mess, and so created the whole Earth.  Then, God wanted to create humans, and so created all kinds of them.  They had all kinds of genders and colors of skin and languages and personalities.  Although life could be hard for people, they loved God for always trying to help them out of their messes.  Life was messy, and people were glad God was there with them.  People told stories about how amazing God was and developed a relationship with a God who loved them deeply, and often forgave them when they made ever bigger messes.  

Then came a time when Caesar, a bully who was selfish and mean wanted power and control, sent his soldiers into a land to be in charge of it.  The people there did not like this very much, because Caesar's soldiers took a lot from the people.  The soldiers wanted all the money, gold, clothes, and food for themselves.  People were very poor and struggling.  God knew that the only way to save the people was to come in the mess with them.  So Jesus was born.  When Jesus was born his parents were not married, and he was homeless.  His Mom was probably a teenager.  There was another King who worked for Caesar.  He tried to kill baby Jesus, but Jesus and his parents went to another country.  This is a big word, but they were refugees.  This means it was too dangerous for them to stay in the country they were from, and had to live in another one.  After awhile, they came back to Judea. 

Jesus was God being on earth with us, in all the mess.  Jesus healed people and taught them to share.  He said that everyone should have clean water, enough food to eat, and be healed.  He healed a lot of people, and didn't want people to be sick.  Do you think the soldiers and the King who worked for Cesar liked Jesus saying that?  No!  The greedy bullies wanted all the things for themselves, and would not share AT ALL.  The more Jesus talked about sharing, the more people loved him.  The more Jesus said that everyone could be equal, the more the poor people loved him.  And, the more the government wanted to kill him.  

Eventually, Jesus knew that he couldn't keep telling everyone to share and spreading joy, love, and healing without getting in trouble.  In the time Jesus lived, it was illegal to say that anyone but Caesar was God.  Because Jesus was God on earth, and because people loved him, they called Jesus a God.  They called him Lord and King.  This was illegal.  The government was scared Jesus was going to take over and make them share more. 

Jesus organized a protest.  He rode through the streets of the capital on a donkey while people shouted about Jesus being a King.  Remember, this is against the law.  Jesus knew that he would get in trouble.  He was protesting Caesar being so greedy and taking all the things people needed to live for himself.  So, Caesar, and the Kings who worked for Caesar, they killed Jesus.  They hoped that by killing him, people would forget all about sharing, healing, and love.  They hoped that by killing Jesus, people would go back to not shouting about how Caesar was hurting them.  

Of course not!  God is bigger than all of that!  While people killed Jesus for saying everyone should share and having healing, God said, nope, that's NOT the end of the story.  Although Jesus knew he would have to die for challenging the government and having a protest, he did it anyway.  Because he loves us.  After Jesus died on the cross, they put him into a cave, called a tomb.  He was in there for three days.  I imagine that while he was in there he took all my bad and messy stuff, too.  All the times I didn't share.  All the times I said something or someone else was God.  Jesus buried those things with him.  And then, three days later, Jesus came back to life!  He got to live on Earth as a human for about six more weeks. He let everyone know that he had forgiven them.  That death doesn't win, ever.  Life wins.  Sharing wins.  Love wins.  When Jesus came back to life, he made so many promises to us.  That's what's so great about Easter.  We are given New Life, and the chance to try again.  At the end of those weeks, Jesus had to go back into heaven with God, but he sent his Spirit to be with us always.  He's still there for us, but in a new way.  Because lived here, he knows our mess.  He knows how hard it is.  He knows that we'll make mistakes.  And he forgives us.  And gives us life.  And the chance to try again, proclaiming that God is God and we can live. 

Woe to you who feel the need to debate the humanity of others.

Woe to you who spend your time on people having sex as consensual, loving, caring, adults.
Blessed are you who have ever known exclusion or death. God sees your humanity. 

Blessed are you who know divine joy and pleasure in the body God gave you, mutual pleasure is a gift from God.
​

Guess several denominations I know should heed some warnings from Jesus, and several people completely outside the church are being blessed by God.

Jesus heals people. Then, he says something that today might sound like:

*Blessed are you who are poor and can't afford housing, food, or health care, for yours is the kingdom of God.

*Blessed are you who live without because of the greed of the economic system, for you will be filled. God is on your side and working to bless you, even if it is sometimes impossible to overcome the greed of others. 

*Blessed are you who weep now because your children are Black, and the police killed or imprisoned them for who God made them to be, for you will find laughter when others are punished for their mistake in denying the Image of God in your children. 

*Blessed are you when you show up and shout that you have a right to LIVE, that #AccessisLove, that the kyriarchy must die, and that Black Lives Matter, 

*Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you for showing God's love to everyone.
 
*Throw a party on that day and dance, for surely your reward in great in God's kin-dom; for hating, reviling, imprisoning, and killing prophets is what the comfortable people do.

==> But woe to you who are given unearned privileges in this system, for the system blesses you, but your soul is hurt.

==> Woe to you who have more than enough food now, for you will someday know hunger. 

==> Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep when you are shown how your actions killed and harmed others.

==> Woe to you when the system and those privileged in it speak well of you and lift you up, for that is what the ancestors did to the false prophets.

So, like most of us, I'm blessed in some ways, and being warned to use my privledge now in ways that lead me to feeling empty, crying, and knowing the pain of others. This is not a "we can keep people poor because God blesses them" or a "slavery and the current PIC is fine because God will take care of those we harm in heaven". This is a "people we've harmed need good news, and we're being invited to know their pain, to give up some of our earthy wealth, to cry with them, and to make it better". We've been warned by Jesus. This is your invitation not to whitewash, spiritualize, or make comfortable these challenging words of Jesus. He spoke them to people who were actively being harmed by the greed of others and the economic system. These were radical words. Radial words that eventually led to the death of Jesus.

Note to my readers with their own chronic illness and disabilities: This essay uses spoonie language.  You can read The Spoon Theory if you don’t already know about it. I’m going to reveal how I’ve been working to undo my own ableism. I had internalized much of it and was previously ok with several things being said in church.  Since working so hard to decolonize my brain, and to unlearn kyriarchy, my thoughts have changed.  While I treat myself as more fully human, I am aware that I am also sensitized to what others say in new ways.  Fighting to be fully included is exhausting. It takes spoons. And I cannot un-learn or un-experience what I know.  If you, as someone living with CI/D (chronic illness and disability), do not have the spoons to think deeply about this, and to fully see the ableism in the world around you, skip this post.  Because I’m new to being aware of it myself, and it takes lots of spoons.  In some ways, while I liked myself less, it was easier not to see the oppressive world and want to fight it. I liked the world more before I was paying attention.  Now, I have fewer spoons, but I like myself and my body more, and see myself as more whole. 

​
Here’s why I now see ableism in words that I previously thought were fine:

Saying “please stand/rise as able” still centers “being able”.  When I hear that in church, I hear that the people who are “able” are the most valued. I’m no longer content to be thrown a bone that makes me happy a worship leader knows I exist; I now want to be included as fully human, and to not have “being able” thrown in my face all. the. time.  The more I hear the world “able” in worship, the more I know what the congregation values– and know that it isn’t, and won’t be, me. Please stop centering “being able” as an indication of worth or participation. That is literally the definition of ableism.

Our worship service was written by able bodied mostly white or Middle Eastern men, basically from the beginning of Christianity until now.  We make little revisions every so often, but we never change the whole entire structure to something like this. Simply the structure of sit/stand/kneel, sit/stand/kneel assumes that being able to do certain movement is vital for worship. And on the flipside, the structure implies that those who can’t follow along lack faith and worth. Asking me to have to rise in spirit when my body just can’t communicates that “rising” and “lifting” and “standing” are what matters in worship. What if I get into a place where those things are impossible for me all the time, not just some of the time?

If you are interested in the problems of mind/body dualism from a feminist perspective, you can read my writing here.  Pay attention: Jesus cared about bodies.  He touched his disciples' dirty, sandy, dusty feet. Jesus hung out with lepers. He wanted health, healing, and wholeness for all.  The church does not seem to know this: please see this article. My personal reality is that if we didn’t have money in a IRA we could take out to pay for health care, I’d spend my life in bed on disability. I need a whole team of specialists and medications to keep me functioning, and in our capitalistic system, that costs money. Jesus healed so many, I believe he wants healing for all bodies, and whole people. 

I’ve spent so much of my life hating my body.  Jesus healed that. Around the communion table, I see a Jesus who cares about bodies eating, being whole, being in community.  If God didn’t truly care about human bodies, why did God want one? I have so much comfort for pain and suffering because Jesus knows pain. He suffered with the flu, stubbed a toe, had dirty diapers, nursed.  What kind of God loves us so much as to want to know what it is like to be with us in all ways?

I’m not interested in my spirit being valued over my body.  I used to be, but that just caused pain because it caused me to ignore my body. I didn’t take care of it and only concentrated on spiritual things. Spiritual things meant I rarely slept or ate. Sure, I was and still am good at lots of things, but I also have a habit of running my body into the ground. to fulfill the New Testament Greek mind/body dualism paradigm.  The Greek philosophers had this idea that our bodies and spirits were separate from one another. I rarely hear Jesus say things to support this worldview, but Paul sure writes about this a lot, and it is what I absorbed and learned growing up.  I’d like to be whole person.  (I don’t believe God caused it, only that God’s job to help good, healing, hope and New Life come with it.)

​As these conversations about what to say when asking people to stand in worship were happening in several places, my favorite answer came from my friend Kelly Colwell:

1. Share this post!

2. Change your worship language. If you’d like a personalized newsletter article for your congregation to explain your change in worship language, please purchase here.

9. Use me as your sensitivity reader for ableism.  As a bonus, you can also get regular editing for grammar, writing style, organization.  Sermons, articles, whatever you've got. 

1. Twitter Hashtag #disabilitiesinchurch
2.Shannon Dingle created the #disabilityinchurch hashtag and this article by her is a big deal and educational.
3. Follow Sharon Dingle and read on her website. 
4. Follow Erin Human and read on her website. 
5. Twitter hashtag #actuallyautistic (If you are alltistic (not autistic), DO NOT USE this hashtag.  You can #askanaustic if you are invited into a conversation.) 
6. Follow Disability and Jesus 
7. Follow Erin Human on Facebook.  She writes about being aware of and curing ableism.
8. Read The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability By Nancy L. Eiesland
​9. Read this statement by the Autism Self-Advocacy Network. It explains many things about how to be a good ally. Read things written by people with disabilities. Do not do the Autism Speaks puzzle pieces, that org is not run by Autistic people, and often leads to the deaths of Autistic people with their ableist ideas. 
10. Read My Needs Are Not “Special” -by Michelle Sutton.
11. Read #SayTheWord, Not “Special Needs” -by Erin Human
12. Remember people with disabilities killed by their own families by learning at this site. 
13. Nick Walker’s “What Is Autism” seems to be the most widely accepted description of autism among #ActuallyAutistic people.
14. Autistic Families International (an organization run BY and FOR autistics) describes autism similarly. 
15. Consider reading The Real Experts, reading by autistic people for parents of autistic kids. It'll give you a good look into the lives of those with all disabilities. 
16. One more definition.  You can read more here.  

1.  If you have disabilities other than mobility, what are other ways worship could make more room for your or be more inclusive? (I shared some of my ideas here.)
2. What questions do you have?  
3. Why do you think these things are hard to hear?
4. What will it take for the church to become more inclusive and welcoming? 
5. If you are qualified to answer, what did I leave out? Share how you're qualified, please. 

The congregation stands as they are comfortable.
 
A  The night of the first day of the week had worn slowly away. The darkest hour, just before daybreak,
had come, pregnant with possibilities. Christ was still prisoner in his narrow tomb. The great stone was in its place and the Roman seal was unbroken; the Roman guards were keeping their watch.

P   May the Warm Love of Christ rising in glory dispel the death-dealing parts of our hearts and minds.
 The Paschal Candle is lit.
A  The Glowing Joy of the Risen of Christ!
C  Thanks be to God!
 
EASTER PROCLIMATIION
P: Rejoice, now, all heavenly powers!  Sing, choirs of angels! Exalt, all creation around God’s throne!  Jesus Christ is risen! Celebrate the divine mysteries with exultation; and for so great a victory, sound the trumpet of salvation.  Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the love of your savior!  Christ has proclaimed LOVE and LIFE the winner!  Glory fills you!  Death-Dealing vanishes forever.  Rejoice, O holy church!  Exult in glory!  The risen Savior glows upon you! Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty proclamation of God’s people:
 
P:  Christ is Risen!
C:  Christ is Risen, Indeed, Alleluia! (several times)

​It is indeed right, our duty, and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, for the glorious resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, the true Paschal Lamb who gave himself up for LOVE, to take away the death-deal.  In dying he has destroyed death, and in rising has brought us to eternal life.  And so, with Mary Magadelne, the other Marys, and all the witnesses of the Resurrection, with earth and sea and all their creatures, and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Easter Eucharistic Prayer
 
Blessed are you, O God of our salvation. 
Thank you for your creation of the world, and for saving it time and again.
Thank you for being there when we mess up –
When Adam and Eve had to leave the garden,
you did not abandon them. 
When a flood covered the earth,
you saved people and animals. 
 
When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt,
you brought them out of the awfulness of death-dealing slavery
and were with them in their passage to the Promised Land. 
When your nation was conquered again and again,
you stayed with your people
and offered them hope and the promise of a human Savior.
 
Yet, when this Savior came,
he did not conquer other nations with blood and swords.  
He did not kill to get his way.
 
He came and loved, especially the poor and the outcast. 
He healed many, and brought many into a full relationship with you.
When he died, you did not abandon him. 
You took his death, and created life. 
Thank you for the empty tomb. 
Thank you for the women who were the first witnesses,
and for their courage in telling your story of death turned into life. 
 
Thank you for promising, especially
through your Son, Jesus the Christ,
that you care about our world. 
That you are here and participate with us,
to give us hope, and to give us life. 
We celebrate that hope and new life now
through the meal your Son left as one of his many gifts to us. 
 
For,
In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
 
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
 
Remembering your unconditional love for us
and your constant work of salvation,
we offer our praise to you, along with
this bread and wine.  Accept these things
as our full embrace of your
presence in our lives.  Lead us to love you in all areas of our lives, public and private, so that through the strength of this meal all may have sustainable lives.
 
Cover this bread and wine with your Spirit,
making them blessings in our lives,
and concrete evidence of your love for us.
Use this meal to strengthen us to be
your people in the world. 
 
Giving all praise to you,
Creating God,
Saving Christ,
And Ever-Present Spirit,
we come ready to feast on your love,
through the work of your Son, Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Lord. AMEN 

If you donate for your use of these texts, you will be e-mailed a Word Doc for easy copy/paste/adaptation. Thanks! 

The post below assumes some things.  First, that you know or have just clicked on and read the Bible passage this post is about.  Second, that you already know, or are willing to pretend for a moment, that white fragility is a real thing that exists, and that it hurts all of us.  Third, I will likely only tangentially mention this in my sermon on Sunday in a long list of ways we play out this story of Jesus in our lives. Fourth, if you want more information, or references for the things I say below, you know how to use Google because I only have so much time to put in hyperlinks.   

In this parable, Jesus says some things that we don't want to hear.  Things that we often don't want to know about the kin-dom of God.  Things are too hard for us about God's dream for the world.  

Because I read this passage, and I think, that's not fair!  The person hired at 5:00pm got paid that same as those who started earlier.  And then I know that makes me sound like a jerk, so I think a little bit more.  Why wasn't that person hired?  I know plenty of people who are of Color or LGBTQ or women who don't get hired (or called to churches) because of their appearance.  Was it fair that those last workers were passed over to begin with?  I also know that it is still true in our church that men of the same education and experience level earn more than women.  

Also, don't those workers also have families to feed?  Do I really think that people are valuable and deserve to make a fair living wage to support themselves and feed their families no matter how hard or how long they work?  That's a dangerous question in our current economic system that rewards the ability to earn money, without regard for systems in place that make it easier for some to earn money than others.  

We often spiritualize this passage.  For some, this passage means that as long as someone repents on their death bed, asks for forgiveness, and confesses belief, they will get into heaven.  

But what if Jesus used an example of economics because he wanted us to see God's dream for the world here and now?  There are so many places to go with this, from the Dream Act, to Health Care, to a fair living wage of $15/hour.  

What strikes me, though, is that this is where I'm at as a white person.  Our consitution says that all men are created equal, yet we've never treated all people as equal.  Maybe the Black Lives Matter protests are simply those workers who were promised a wage that they were excluded from all. day. long.  Perhaps us white people are those grumbling.  People are fighting for what they've been promised, and honestly, deserve as full human beings, and the other workers, us white people are grumbling about it.  We think that it is somehow not fair that everyone gets what they agreed to work for.  

We get fragile as white people.  We think that creating a world where People of Color lived and are valued equally to us somehow means we've lost something.  But have we really?  Didn't the generous landowner give everyone what they agreed to at the end of the day?  

All analogies fall down after awhile.  Yes, I know there's a problem saying that People are Color are working at 5PM and less hard.  But why is that a problem?  And, especially if all lives, if everyone's ability to feed their family is all the same, can't we value all the workers equally?  That's what the generous landowner did, anyway.  

And in this parable, many people agree that the generous landowner is God, or at least how things are supposed to work in the kin-dom of God.  Yes, we can never realize that fully in this life, on this earth.  But if economic equality, paying what a person needs to feed their family, and not holding it against people who were prevented from the system is what God wants, there is a clear invitation to the church.  We, as disciples of Christ, we as the Body of Christ, are invited to help make the world more like this parable.  

And while that's threatening to us, just like it was to the workers who were hired earlier in the morning, then this parable clearly says what we need to do.  Get over it, and let God's Dream for the world come closer, because we as the church are helping make it more of a reality.  

If we think of white people as those who were hired early in the morning, there is incredible power in this parable to offer us a new way of living.  One where we can see the system clearly, and work to change it.  Not just for getting into heaven, but for life in the here and now.  

1.  What do you think?
2. What things have led you to feel fragile lately?
3.  Can you follow a Jesus who says the kin-dom of God is to turn our economic system and the ways we value people upside down?
4.  What is most threatening to you about this?
5.  What is most hopeful? 

These questions are also posted here, when you can also comment:
http://facebook.com/pastorjess615