Clergy With Disabilities – All God’s Creatures
All three of us, each with a unique ministry, have been accepted here for who we are "inside." My heart rejoices in this gift from a generous God to be sent to this church.
From individuals' matching-plus of the Disabilities Ministries grant that began Kamp Kaleo's concrete sidewalks (see earlier Record), to our Interim Conference Minister's making available "The Accessibility Audit," to the hiring of another clergy person with a disability, it has been a good year for the church's recognition of the value and wholeness of all persons.
Second Note: Keep your eyes open for our own Rev. Nancy Erickson's week of meditations in the latest These Days. Now, how about a couple dog stories?
If you have not considered calling a pastor who happens to have a disability, you might be missing quite a bit.
The first communion by intinction that Bob and I offered at our Burwell parish was also a first for Leader Dog Treasure to observe. Not to worry. I trusted him to stay in his "don't move a muscle, sleep-during-church position" beside my chancel chair until hearing my "Come" after the benediction.
All went well as Bob and I proceeded to the base of the steps with the elements. Then Bob issued the invitation to the congregation, "Come, for all things are ready." One by one, the people came through the line. There Treasure, my guide dog, was among them ready to partake, having discreetly descended the side stairs.
My hands were too full of communion bread, my tongue was too busy with communion words, and my voice was too microphoned to utter anything untactful; Treasure won. Of course, when we returned to the chancel, Treasure was too busy vacuuming the crumbs to follow. Is that biblical?
Then, at the First Advent with the pungent evergreen next to the chancel, I was at the lectern when Treasure again left his "Stay" position. He crossed the chancel to Bob, another first. After my quiet word, Treasure returned to his spot. I resumed my work.
Treasure took off again. Again, this obedient dog guide headed as discreetly as possible down the side steps. He walked directly to a friend in the congregation. "Will you please get me out of here? I can't breathe, and Bob and Dee aren't available."
I immediately re-titled the children's meditation, "Integrity and Doing What You Must," and my allergic dog spent the rest of Advent in comfort at the rear of the sanctuary beside a delighted church member.
All three of us, each with a unique ministry, have been accepted here for who we are "inside." My heart rejoices in this gift from a generous God to be sent to this particular congregation for God's particular reasons.
Reading the Signs is a can-do forum about accessibility for the whole church family edited by the Rev. Dee Brauninger, First Congregational UCC, Burwell, Nebraska
2 Comments
1. Rev. Rich replies at 29th July 2007, :
I am a disabled Clery. I would like to get in touch with some clergy that are also disabled.
God +Bless,
Rev. Rich
2. Reverend Gerald W. Scott replies at 11th September 2009, :
My name is Gerald an I was ordained an Elder in one of the traditional denominations. I have been preaching since I was twelve years old (45 years ago). I also have a disability. I was born with Cerebral Palsy and, at the age of 14 underwent a series of operations, resulting in the fusion of my “good hip”, i.e., my left hip. I would like to share my first-hand experiences as a minister who came into the ministry with a disability. Many within the hierarchy of the church believed that I could not serve as a pastor within the church because of my disability. My pastor (the pastor that saw and valued my calling by allowing me to preach my trial sermon at 12, had died, while I was in the hospital)told me face to face that if he had anything to do with it, I would go no further than being a local minister in my local church, never a pastor. The reason: You can’t hold the communion tray with your right hand (this broke with custom). If it were not for a God-led Bishop and a few compassionate and insightful pastors within the denomination I would never have been ordained, let alone pastor.
After being ordained a Deacon (the first level of ordained ministry) I was up for a pastoral appointment in Bermuda. First I had to get the recommendation of the Presiding Elder. As I approached him, he looked at me and said, “What’s wrong with you, did you have a stroke or something?” Needless to say, I did not get that appointment, or any appointment that Conference year (those within my class of ministers all received appointments). Two years later, after serving as an ordained deacon, I was ordained an Itinerant (traveling) Elder (the highest level of ordained ministers). I was not even offered an appointment at that time. I returned to my local church continuing to serve as an associate minister (I was 26 years old). I am grateful to the Lord because he had sent a fair-minded Man of God, to my church, a few years earlier. I don’t believe I would have stayed in my denomination if He hadn’t sent him. He used me as Assistant Pastor, and I was elected, by the members of the congregation to many leadership positions. I look at that period as a time of preparation. One day, in July of 1978, I received a call from the Bishop’s office saying that the pastor that had been serving one of the churches within the district did not have the proper credentials to pastor, and asked if I would go to the church as interim pastor until the situation was rectified. The Presiding Elder that I previously mentioned was the Elder of the district that this church was in. He called me after my first Sunday there and told me that he was trying to get the assigned pastor’s credentials straighten out and not to get too comfortable in my temporary position. Wow!! I continued to serve these fine people, and then, three weeks after I first went there, the Presiding Bishop called me and stated that he had heard that I was doing a good job in holding down the church, and if I wanted it, he would appoint me the full pastor. It should go without saying, I gratefully accepted the offer. Thus began my 18 years of pastoral service to many churches throughout the denomination. I never pastored a large congregation, but I didn’t mind that, I was satified serving God’s people, and every church I went to grew after I got there. I served the church as a trouble shooter. Whenever there was a problem within a congregation they would send me in as pastor in order to help make things better. In 1994, my CP knee (the right knee) began giving me allot of trouble. I could not even get up the stairs of those within my congregation unless they had a rail. This naturally created problems in my serving the people, especially those shut-in with various affliction. I needed health insurance to correct the condition. The membership that I pastored were financially unable to provide this benefit (this was particularly true because pre-existent health conditions: CP, fused hip, asthma, and high blood pressure). I sought to get a promotion to a church that was financially able to meet this needed service. I was told that “I did not fit the image of a first-class pastor.” This forced me to make the hardest decision of my life, that is, I retired from active ministry; resigning my position at the church I had been pastoring for 8 years. The church does not view those with disablities as full partners in the ministry. I was disabled and also had sole custody of a daughter, and yet I was not good enough to lend a helping hand up as I attempted to help the Church and its people. The Church needs to take an inventory of its heart as it relates to those with special challenges. If you can’t see the image of Christ in those who are the servants of Christ where will you ever see it.
The disabled a more than second class spectators, waiting for divine healing within the body of Christ, we are full citizens of the kingdom. God can use us as effectively as he uses the able-bodied. Lest we forget, three of the greatest heroes in the Bible were disabled. Jacob was lame, but was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel; Moses, the Great Liberator of God’s Chosen People, had a significant speech impediment; and Paul, the Missionary Apostle, who is attributed to writing 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament, had a thorn in the flesh to buffet (beat) him (many believe the thorn was epilepsy). By the Church’s standard these men would have never been called upon to do the things that they did; but, thanks be to God, He is not a respector of persons, He has a divine plan for everyone of us.
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