Buy cialis no prescription, For more information or to make a gift to the Reverend Harold H. Wilke Fund for the ongoing program work of the UCC DM, köpa rabatterade cialis, Cialis without prescription, please go to http://www.ucc.org/make-a-gift/. Thank you for your contribution, cheapest cialis prices. Acheter cialis discount. Maryland MD Md. . Cialis generic. Cialis pedido en línea. Pharmacie cialis bon marché. Jotta cialis verkossa. Acheter cialis. West Virginia WV W.Va. . Billiga cialis apotek. αγοράσετε cialis έκπτωση. Kjøpe cialis. Oregon OR Ore. . Order cialis without prescription. Order cialis no prescription. Maine ME Me. . Cialis without a prescription. Order cialis online cheap. Købe cialis online. Acheter cialis bon marché. Order cialis online. Kansas KS Kans. . Alabama AL Ala. .

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A Selection of Suggested Resources from United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries for Worship in Celebration of ADA

Buy cialis, Tribute to Harold H. Wilke
Includes poem by Jeanne Tyler
http://www.uccdm.org/2006/11/11/remembering-the-rev-dr-harold-h-wilke/

Litany and Prayer Resources:

• Invocation by Normal Mengel
Creating, saving, and sustaining God, buy cialis cheap, we thank you for creating us in your image, each having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, Order cialis online, so that together we make up the whole body of Christ. Help us to learn new ways to encourage each other to develop our gifts to the fullest, to love one another with mutual affection, and to extend hospitality, παραγγείλετε online cialis. May we be sensitive and helpful to one another in our areas of need. In Christ’s name, Cheap generic cialis, we pray. Amen, buy cialis.

More. Go to http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/23/mosaic-series-created-to-be-interdependent-within-the-body-of-christ/#more-399

• Litany by Dee Brauninger

Leader: Mindful that from the genesis throughout the revelation of our lives, God creates, cialis ordine on-line, reveals, and renews God’s promise of hope for us, Cialis discount, All: Let us be faithful to our commitment to you, O God, and to one another. Amen, cheapest cialis in the world.
Leader: As birth, disease, Acquistare online cialis, accident, or maturity brings special needs to those within this church,
All: Guide us, O God, price of cialis, as bringers of your hope. Buy cialis, Amen.
Leader: As we increase our skill in reading the signs of change among church members and anticipate their needs, Tennessee TN Tenn. , All: Guide us, O God, as your welcoming people. Amen, Oklahoma OK Okla. .

More. Go to http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/23/mosaic-series-tools-of-the-trade/#more-396

• Prayer by Jeanne Tyler

Persistent God, Billig kaufen cialis, who never lets us go, come to us in this gathering. Open our minds and our hearts to wrestle with your words, buy cialis. Teach us not to sit politely by when we are not welcomed as the unique people we are. Help us to love ourselves as much as we love you, cheapest cialis, so that your gift of creating us in your image is not wasted on others or us. Help us be teachers and learners. Comprare cialis, Help us to follow your ways made straight in the wilderness. Buy cialis, We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

More. Go to http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/24/mosaic-series-i-could-come-home/#more-401

• Invocation by Diana Coberly

We approach you, Acheter en ligne cialis, O faithful God, assured of your welcoming attitude to all. Billige cialis Apotheke, You fearfully and wonderfully made each of us. We thank you that your love is with us, that nothing can separate us from your love no matter the way we see or hear, no matter the way we talk or walk, no matter the way we think or feel, buy cialis. Help each of us to be aware of how we exclude persons different from ourselves from knowing Jesus. As we gather in this place, awaken us to your goodness and mercy, Wisconsin WI Wis. , that we may through the liberating grace you offer us, help create an attitude of inclusiveness for all. Order cialis cod, Amen.

More. Buy cialis, Go to http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/23/mosaic-series-spiritual-accessibility-for-all/

• Litany: Blessing of the Options by Dee Brauninger

From Genesis 1, 12 and 21; Psalms 8 and 139

Suggested Use:
1. Multiple readings throughout the service.
2, Colorado CO Colo. . Select several Leader/People/ALL segments to use once in the service.
3. Read the entire litany as a prayer with a pause between segments for silent reflection followed by an Amen before reading the next segment, buy cialis. Generic cialis, Go to http://www.uccdm.org/2009/10/06/blessed-be-god-who-delights-in-everyone-a-litany/

• Benediction by Dee Brauninger

May God guide this living church as we aim to do whatever it takes from the quiet, welcoming act to the visible or costly physical change that reflects God’s life-giving plan for a future with hope. Amen.

More, cialis no prescription. Go to http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/23/mosaic-series-tools-of-the-trade/#more-396

Scripture:

1 Peter 4:8-11a (RSV)

Suggested Hymns (From “Hymns for A2A Congregations” in A2A Study Guide)

http://www.uccdm.org/2010/06/25/hymns-for-a2a-congregations/

“Blessed be the Tie that Binds” 393 TNCH “Called as Partners in Christ’s Service” 495 TNCH “Glory, Glory, Ostaa halvalla cialis, Hallelujah” 2 TNCH “Help Us Accept Each Other” 388 TNCH “My Heart is Overflowing” 15 TNCH “O God in Whom All Life Begins 401 TNCH “O God, My God” 515 TNCH “Spirit of Love” 58 TNCH
“We Yearn, O Christ, for Wholeness” 179 TNCH “We are Your People” 309 TNCH “When Peace Like a River” 438 TNCH “Won’t You Let Me Be Your Servant?” 539 TNCH
Meditations:

• "Empowering Children with Disabilities" by David Denham
http://www.uccdm.org/2009/03/04/empowering-chi…h-disabilities/

• "The Church of the Left Out" by Marja Coons-Torn
http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/24/the-church-of-the-left-out/

• "A Patchwork Quilt" by Virginia Kreyer Mosaic Series – In God’s Image – “A Patchwork Quilt” - http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/24/mosaic-series-a-patchwork-quilt/

• "Spiritual Accessibility for All" by Diana Coberly Mosaic Series – In God’s Image – “Spiritual Accessibility for All”
http://www.uccdm.org/2007/05/23/mosaic-series-spiritual-accessibility-for-all/

• Sermon Text: Job 1:1, cialis online, 2:1-10, Psalm 26, Idaho ID , Mark 10:2-16 – Jeanne Tyler

Go to http://www.uccdm.org/1999/06/21/jeanne-tyler-ucc-dm-co-chair-preaches-at-amistad-chapel/#more-85

Articles:

• “Architectural, Attitudinal, and Spiritual Inclusion of People with Disabilities and their Families” – by Rita Fiero
http://www.uccdm.org/1999/07/30/architectural-attitudinal-and-spiritual-inclusion-of-people-with-disabilities-and-their-families-fiero/

• “Mainstreaming the Alienated: The Church Responds to the ‘new’ Minority” – by Harold Wilke
http://www.uccdm.org/2006/11/30/mainstreaming-the-alienated-the-church-responds-to-the-new-minority/

• “Multisensory Worship Ideas” by Marjot Hausmann
http://www.uccdm.org/2010/06/25/multisensory-worship-ideas/
Jo Clare Hartsig. Buy cialis, Ed., A2A Study Guide. http://www.uccdm.org p, buy cialis without prescription. 142

• “No Steps to Heaven” by Harold Wilke
http://www.uccdm.org/2006/11/30/no-steps-to-heaven-harold-h-wilke/

• “Reading the Signs” is a series of columns about inclusion and accessibility that can be excerpted for conference or church newsletters.Visit the Reading the Signs Category at http://www.uccdm.org.

Poems:

• “Signs of Liberation and Access” by Harold Wilke
http://www.uccdm.org/2010/06/25/signs-of-liberation-and-access-wilke

• “Them vs. Us : A Litany”
Jo Clare Hartsig. Ed., A2A Study Guide, buy cialis. http://www.uccdm.org p. 142

Discussion:
• “In the Image of God” Jo Clare Hartsig. Ed., A2A Study Guide. http://www.uccdm.org p. 6

Other Resources Buy cialis, :
AAPD.com American Association on People with Disabilities

Disability.gov Go to the 100 Days Countdown on Disability Blog

N.O.D.org The National Organization on Disabilities

Http://www.uccdm.org contains a valuable resource written and edited by Jo Clare Hartsig. The A2A Study Guide can be downloaded for electronic reading or printed. It is also available on disc from UCC DM. Contact Michelle Hintz. hintzm@ucc.org.

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Buy levitra c.o.d., Margaret (Peg) Vigars Wilke died peacefully at her home in Claremont, California on Saturday, October 17. A resident of Pilgrim Place community in Claremont since 1989, she enjoyed a music concert on campus the day before her passing. Order levitra no prescription, Matriarch of a large family, artist, therapist and early fighter for civil rights, economic justice and women’s rights, cheap levitra tablets, she was wife and helpmate of the late Reverend Harold Wilke, himself a disability rights pioneer and activist involved in the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Generic levitra, Peg was 93.

Born in Algona, Iowa, on July 12, levitra en ligne afin, 1916, Margaret Vigars was the only child of Selma Lind and William Vigars. She was a precocious child who started first grade a year before her classmates, buy levitra c.o.d.. Købe levitra online, Among the joys of her childhood were summers spent with her parents at Wheelers Grove, on Lake Okoboji in Arnolds Park, Iowa. There she gained a love of lakes and swimming, buy levitra online legally, affinities that stayed with her throughout life. Also at Lake Okoboji, Where to buy cheap levitra, she and her teenage friends listened on warm summer nights to big bands playing across the water.

She loved to tell about adventures with her father, Bill, including stories about their early-morning trips to watch the annual arrival by train of the circus elephants and roustabouts, levitra farmacia a buon mercato. Buy levitra c.o.d., Margaret Vigars attended Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa). There, she excelled academically and developed her interests and skills in drama and art. Georgia GA Ga. , During one vacation visit back home, she dropped in on her high school math teacher, who at that moment was pointing out a difficult problem Margaret had solved the previous year. He had saved her solution on the blackboard, ordering levitra no rx.

After graduating from College, Peg attended Chicago Theological Seminary where she earned a masters degree in social work. While there she met her future husband Harold Wilke, and after a cross country courtship while she directed settlement houses serving immigrants and economic refugees in Chicago and Erie, Pa, they were married August 24, 1941 at the Seminary Chapel, buy levitra c.o.d.. Wyoming WY Wyo. , They then moved to Columbia, Mo. where Peg worked with Red Cross and Harold was a chaplain at the University of Missouri.

When the U.S.entered World War II, billige levitra apotek, Peg & Harold moved east. Peg staffed the Red Cross office in Boston, Cheap levitra overnight delivery, working with families of soldiers shipping overseas as well as victims tragic Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire. Buy levitra c.o.d., In the years that followed, Peg and Harold moved to Philadelphia, Topeka, KS, Chicago, Cleveland, and White Plains, NY before retiring to Pilgrim Place in Claremont, CA.

While Harold pursued his career as a minister and national leader in the United Church of Christ and as an international advocate for people with disabilities, she worked as a social worker and therapist along with raising their five sons.

Her work took her from settlement houses and a children’s home in Cleveland, cheap levitra without prescription, to a psychotherapy practice in New York City and White Plains. For a time in the late 1960's she and her family lived in Europe, Where to buy levitra, where she and Harold, who had been born without arms, worked with families of the disabled children who were Thalidomide victims.

Throughout her life, köpa levitra online, Peg Wilke was surrounded by works of art, her own and others that she collected. She was a good painter and gifted sculptor, whose award-winning works have been displayed from Illinois and Iowa to New York and California, buy levitra c.o.d.. Osta levitra, Her home and heart gave refuge and welcome to people from all walks of life, all ages and from all over the world, for short, long and sometimes crowded stays, cheap levitra online cheap. A favorite place for gathering family for more than 30 years was the family’s “camp” in Bryant Pond, Maine. För levitra online, Margaret (Peg) Wilke is survived by her sons William Wilke of Watertown, MA, Christopher (Kit) Wilke and his wife Bonnie Butler Wilke of Long Beach, CA, Colorado CO Colo. , Mark Wilke and his wife Sharon Robertson Wilke of Arlington, MA, Order levitra overnight delivery, Nancy Nadler Wilke (wife of the late John Wilke) of Bethesda,MD, and David Wilke and his wife Bailey Beeken of Brooklyn, NY, Alabama AL Ala. . She is also survived by eight grandchildren: Devon, Michaela, Levitra for sale, Robin, Jackson, Erik, Ryan, levitra over the counter, Bo, and Quinn and two great-grandchildren. Florida FL Fla. , She was predeceased by her husband Harold Wilke, who died in 2003, and their son, John Wilke, who died in May 2009.

A memorial service for Margaret (Peg) Wilke will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3 in Decker Hall at 665 Avery Road, Pilgrim Place, Claremont, CA. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Pilgrim Place
( http://www.pilgrimplace.org/online_donations.php )

CONTACT: Reverend Kit Wilke 562-619-0301

.

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To read this article, visit http://www.stauros.org/notebooks/articledetail.php?id=12. Harold Wilke was a forefather of United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries.

Strengthen and Make Whole the Body of Christ by Empowering Children With Disabilities Can the church from the beginning of life be that place where justice is practiced, surrounding children with disabilities with the breadth and strength of such a network of support that it is simply empowering for life? I am convinced the answer is "yes." Lorie Peters has a gifted mind, an engaging personality and excellent instincts. She lives on her own near Baltimore; manages her own affairs; enjoys her cat Nicky; hosted a Christmas party for over eighty friends: lobbied in Maryland and West Virginia, talking with legislators about how she made changes happen in her life. Now in her mid-thirties, Lorie has been challenged all her life with severe physical disabilities. She has no legs, very small hands and a generally small body. She navigates by wheelchair or crawling. For years, medical labels imposed by her disabilities kept her from living as she does now. October 31, 1991 was the first night Lorie lived on her own in her apartment. She had grown up in Children's Hospital in Baltimore, living there twenty years. Then she was transferred to a nursing home. Lorie wanted to live on her own. Only her social worker seemed to be listening. Listening? Too many service providers failed to listen, including the staff at the nursing home. She burned the stump of her leg with hot tea. She told the staff to check her leg. They did not. When a friend came to visit, Lorie asked her to check her leg. Lorie had to be hospitalized, and more of her leg had to be amputated. Lorie concluded that the staff did not listen to her. I met Lorie shortly after this incident while she stayed at a friend's house. Lorie had made many friends as a child growing up at Children's Hospital. She would sit in the lobby to greet and chat with people, including Helga, in whose home she was staying. Another person she met as a child in the lobby at Children's Hospital was Rev. Brian, an associate pastor at a large church. Brian found another temporary place for Lorie to live, and then the permanent location into which she moved. The church in mission became an instrument of justice. The church was able to cut through a lifetime of perspective that Lorie needed to be "cared for" in an institution and capitalize on Lorie's own childhood connections. The church in a loving and caring way was able to offer the breadth and strength of its vast network of support. Then, the course of Lorie's life changed dramatically to an empowering way of life. Can the church from the beginning of life be that place where justice is practiced, surrounding children with disabilities with the breadth and strength of such a network of support that it is simply empowering for life? I am convinced the answer is "yes." The following story about an early English settlement can serve as a model of how the church can respond as an agent of justice. Historian Nora Groce studied the history of a small community of people who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Martha's Vineyard in 1690. In this small, relatively isolated community, about 10 percent of the people were born unable to hear. They communicated with a unique sign language brought to them from England. Everyone in the community knew this language. Nora Groce found no significant differences between those who could hear and those who could not in the rates of graduating from high school, marrying, bearing a similar number of children, finding jobs and income levels. In a parallel study on the mainland where services were considered to be the best, non-hearing individuals graduated 25 percent less than hearing persons, married 40 percent less, and had children 40 percent less. They earned about one third as much as the general population and their range of occupations was more limited.' What happened? In one place where there were no services, the result for children growing up was that there were no differences; they spoke a unique language that everyone understood. Today in the church, separated from government regulation, we speak our own language, a gospel language that says "Come all," and we are empowered to do what it takes for any individual to participate in and contribute to the life of the church. The best hope for children with disabilities is for the church to adapt, much like the family adapts when a child with a disability is born. Harold Wilke was born into such, family and church. Many within the UCC know Harold, a gifted minister who was looking over the shoulder of President Bush in 1990 at the Rose Garden signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Harold finds great meaning in the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," particularly since he has no arms himself. Having roomed with Harold on many occasions, I am inspired simply by seeing how able he is in put on his clothes. Harold reports: "I remember once, when I was two or three years old, sitting on the floor of my bedroom trying to get a shirt on over my head and around my shoulders. I was having an extraordinarily difficult time. While I grunted and sweated, my mother stood watching. Her arms must have been held rigidly at her side; every instinct in her wanted to reach out and put my shirt on for me. Finally, a neighbor who was visiting asked in exasperation why my mother wasn't helping. My mother responded through gritted teeth, 'I am helping!'" Harold's parents intervened lovingly and with care in specific ways offered Harold formative guideposts that shaped and empowered the church to become a positive formative network. At the service of confirmation, his ministry offered an individual prayer for confirmand. His pastor's prayer for him at age fourteen was child go to theological to become a minister of the church." Harold already had a deep desire to enter ministry even after being discouraged by a previous pastor. His church surrounded Harold as a child and later as a youth with affirmation, asking him to teach Sunday school in his late high school years. He was active in the youth fellowship, and was asked to preach a sermon. As I reflect upon sharing a room with Harold, I understand that in the way he learned to get dressed, his mother made a difference. With Harold the teenager, his own pastor was nurturing and empowering. Family and church were extraordinary instruments of justice in his life. Most often this simple kind of godly justice does not mean starting a new church program. Rather, it is the individual church member or committee that acts on what it takes to bring in or keep a young person involved in and contributing to the life of the church. Sunday school is a major agent of justice in the life of our churches. Ginny Curringa, Associate Pastor of Pioneer UCC in Sacramento, California, tells of what happened one Sunday when her mother picked her up from Sunday school after church services ended. "The Sunday School teacher told her that she could not bring me back unless she was willing to teach!" Ginny loved Sunday school, and was challenged by the gospel stories. She thought that Superman was better than Jesus. Why not? Superman could fly; Jesus only walked on water. And Ginny got the support of the class on this issue. Next Sunday, there was a new teacher. The new teacher became an agent of justice for Ginny. In that time, Ginny would have been considered "hyperactive." Today, Ginny knows she has dyslexia. She developed an attitude of making her own rules. Why? Because the school rules did not work for her. They made her feel dumb, placed her in low level reading and math groups even after testing revealed how bright she was. The local and wider church noticed Ginny's gifts. She was appointed a youth leader on a task force of women who wrote a resolution on inclusive language. Ginny says, "It was so wonderful to be empowered by the church!" "Very reluctantly," Ginny went to seminary. After all, academia had not been her favorite place in life. Her education was spread over six years, not being able to carry a full load. Childhood memories of church brought a feeling of home, and it was her church work during seminary that nurtured her self-esteem and affirmed her call to ministry. Because of Ginny's presence, many churches have improved their accessibility, both architecturally and attitudinally. Now fifteen years later, after serving several churches as associate pastor, Ginny has discovered the assets of her life's journey as a person with a disability. She finds her sensitivity heightened to people's ability to view situations from perspectives, and a sense of comfort and gifts for facing conflict and change. While she still struggles with feeling inadequate, Ginny found empowerment through the church and is now offering that gift back to others. In each of these stories, the people of the church were agents of justice when they empowered children for a lifetime. Like the people of Martha's Vineyard, church members discerned the suitable actions necessary and did them. In a society that tends to pass on such situations to a specialized service delivery system, the church can be that haven where community is primary, and where that community of faith constantly adjusts to be whole by including each individual. What if the church that offered the benefit of its network to Lorie had said "No"? What if Harold's and Ginny's family and church had not discovered their gifts, and encouraged them to enter Christian service? Praise God for the ways things did happen! We grieve that there have been times that our churches have failed to respond justly, and lives have not been empowered. Don't rush to set up a special program. Rather, survey your church, your Sunday school membership, and the extended life of your church (scouts, senior citizens, community groups). Find individuals whose needs are not being met. Discover a child with Down's Syndrome or with an emotional disability. Ask someone (maybe you!) to advocate for them and encourage them. Help others see that a child's behavior or needs might be a plea to be understood and to be viewed as they really are. Encourage the church to be flexible and to adjust. Tell fellow members the Martha's Vineyard story, and say "Our church can be that kind of community." Our church's just response to children with disabilities will empower them for a lifetime. It did for Lorie, Harold, and Ginny! Notes 1. The Martha's Vineyard Story is from John McKnight, "The Professional Service Business and Why Servanthood is Bad," reprint (Washington, DC: Cathedral College of the Laity, n.d.), pp. 1-2. (Also found in The Other Side January/February 1989).) Written by David E. Denham. Published in New Conversations (Issue Title: "A Church Responsive to God's Call – Building a World Fit for Children. Pp. 69-71 Written by David E. Denham and used with his permission. From

New Conversations

(Issue Title: "A Church Responsive to God's Call – Building a World Fit for Children. Pp. 69-71

"No Steps to Heaven" begins:

The scene is upper Manhattan, Broadway at Reinhold Niebuhr Place, Union Theological Seminary. Union’s president, Donald Shriver, walks jauntily down the steps to the bustling street and sits down in a wheelchair brought for the experiment, thus putting himself in the place of a student with a handicap. Gazing up from his wheelchair at that imposing entrance and those five insurmountable steps, he says, “OK, carry me in,” and two waiting students -- both of them at least a bit nervous -- carry him into the foyer. Inside, he wheels past a heavy elevator door and then, with the aid of the students, attempts to negotiate the maze that is a magnificent building constructed on the assumption that everyone using it would be not only a spiritual and intellectual giant but an able-bodied athlete as well!

Read the entire article, No Steps to Heaven.

Written by Harold H. Wilke "We have a history of keeping people 'out of sight, out of mind.'" "Even more people are becoming alienated, and ever more of them are coming out into the open." "They are part of our society, not apart from it. More sharply than ever before, the idea of “mainstreaming” -- keeping persons who differ from the norm within the main current of social life -- is becoming a part of Western thinking. In this context, there is an urgent need for society to respond to a “coming-out party” for those who are about to be deinstitutionalized, as well as a need for a far more adequate response to that much larger number who already are in our midst. Certainly the religious community, in its contact with people on every street corner and in every hamlet, has a prime opportunity to help in this mainstreaming process." In this article, Dr. Wilke presents four practical responses of the church. Read Mainstreaming the Alienated

A Memorial to Dr. Wilke from UCC DM Harold H. Wilke (12/10/1914 02/26/2003)

Harold Wilke
Strong Man
agile
limber

intellectual
caring
insightful

Born
2 legged
no arms
man

drank coffee, sipped tea
with his toes
took notes
walked into meetings

gave hope
focus
called by God to ministry
claimed by the church
affirmed by people president and pope
spoke words of blessing for accessibility
integrity

whose wholeness
offers others
hope
hospitality
--Jeanne Tyler

Harold Wilke, leader, mentor, and friend, will be remembered a giant and pioneer in building bridges between religious communities and systems of services and advocacy for people with disabilities and their families. Bill Gaventa

In the days when it was "polite" to open the door for a woman, Harold Wilke was visiting the campus of Chicago Theological Seminary. Nearing a door as we chatted, he slipped out of his right shoe, grabbed the door handle with his foot then proceeded to hold the door. We were amazed to see his flexibility and panache. His ability to overcome his disability spoke volumes to those who saw him at work. - Bob and Ruth Beck

Harold Wilke, dean of all differently able not only in our church but in our country and internationally. - David and Betty Jamieson

He made the difference between Miss Kreyer and the Rev. Miss Kreyer. When I applied to Union Seminary, one reason they accepted a person with severe cerebral palsy was that Harold Wilke had been accepted there and made it (as one of the first Americans with a serious disability to serve as a parish minister). - Virginia Kreyer

Having known Harold since grade school, I treasure most his passion for justice for all. He was an advocate for God's inclusive vision for the lgbt community, for the poor, for women, and for the disabled. - Lois M. Powell

I learned from Dr. Wilke that wholeness has little to do with the body. - Dallas Dee Brauninger

I give thanks for Harold's life and for the ways in which he shaped and supported my ministry. - Mary Susan Gast

Many years ago, Harold Wilke came to Fargo. A UCC pastor, I was asked to meet Dr. Wilke and take him home so he could change clothes before his speaking engagement. Not wanting to have our young daughters embarrass him by staring or making inappropriate comments, we warned that a gentleman would be coming to see us who had been born with no arms. As we chatted at the kitchen table, the girls and a couple friends came into the room to meet our guest and eat a cookie then ran out to play some more. Harold was so natural and gracious as he sat there drinking coffee with his toes that our girls simply did not notice. Later that evening, as we were getting ready for bed, one daughter looked at us with a puzzled expression. "When is the man without arms coming?" - W. Douglas Allen

"How do I act disabled? I've never been disabled before," the Father of Disability Ministry said as he sat with pride and humility in the wheelchair before entering a General Synod XX gathering. After my spinal cord injury, he gave me hope for a future despite losses, guiding my path to seminary, UCC, and U C C DM. His life taught us all how to do it. - Rita Fiero

"Harold was the inspiration for our Religion and Disability Program [of the National Organization on Disability. Harold was a founding Board Member]. His enthusiasm, self-acceptance, grit and twinkle allowed him to be a role model and a superb leader. He challenged all, with and without disabilities, to heal the divisions among God's children. Religious communities responded to his proclamation that people with disabilities are welcome and needed in the House of God." - Ginny Thornburgh, Director of N.O.D.

"With the death of the Rev. Harold H. Wilke, founder of the Healing Community, the disability rights movement has lost one of its giants...Harold was an early pioneer on witness by example of the effectiveness in life and in ministry, while living with a significant disability...Where will we find those who will enter into the challenges of disability rights work still needed in many faith communities including the United Methodist Church? Look around and see if you could encourage someone else to pick up on the challenges. We need to confront the architectural, attitudinal, and program barriers preventing persons with disabilities from full involvement. -- John A. Carr, United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries

"The word 'sacrament' means an outward sign of an invisible reality. For the disability movement, Harold is our sacrament. Harold makes visible that to be an effective pastor or church executive or world leader or visionary, you do not have to shake hands; that you can claim 'Leaning on the Everlasting Arms' as a favorite hymn when you do not have arms. This sacrament -- this outward sign of a too often invisible reality was his life and ministry among us." -- words offered at Harold Wilke's Memorial Service by David Denham

"Move [us] to discard those old beliefs and attitudes that limit and diminish those among us with disabilities." - From Dr. Wilke's blessing at the signing into law of the American Disabilities Act, 1990.

The U C C D M has designated a fund to honor the life and ministry of Harold H. Wilke, devoted minister, disability advocate and pioneer. His exemplary ministry within the UCC and the world forged a path for leaders with disabilities to emerge. Donations to the U.C.C.DM continue to support his legacy so that leaders with disabilities continue to rise in our midst.

A UCC minister, the first chair of the U C C D M (then the National Committee for Persons with Disabilities), a member of the U.S. Council for the Year of Disabled Persons and a founding board member of both the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.) and its international arm, the World Committee on Disability -- Dr. Wilke was noted for his unique role delivering the blessing at the White House signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. Following the signing, President George H.W. Bush passed the signing pen to Rev. Wilke, who accepted it with his foot -- because he was born without arms.

Rev. Wilke focused on his own abilities, rather than his disability. He had a distinguished career in four areas of service: the Church, rehabilitation medicine, teaching and government. Ordained as a minister of the United Church of Christ, Dr. Wilke served on the faculty at Union Theological Seminary in New York, the UCC national staff, and directed The Healing Community, which promotes awareness about access to a life of faith. He published numerous books and articles, including "Creating the Caring Congregation, Angels on My Shoulders, among others" for congregations moving to integrate persons with disabilities into the life and service of faith communities.

Donations to the John Wilke Disablities Ministries Fund may be sent to:

Ms Michelle Hintz
Local Church Ministries
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland Ohio 44115-1100

From UCC DM Newsletter Archive

Author: ALBERT A. HERZOG, JR. This synposis was prepared by David E. Denham. Since its inception as a union between the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1957, the United Church of Christ has been a leading American denomination which seeks to be faithful to its Christian heritage by making faith its own in each generation. In its location within contemporary society, the United Church of Christ has sought to maintain dialogue with the major issues of the day. The movement within the United Church of Christ to integrate persons with physical, developmental and emotional impairments into its life and into society is borne out the conviction that both are necessary for the denomination to be an effective witness to all people. The UCC is one of several mainline Protestant denominations, which in the late 1970’s, embraced a national movement which was to have profound impact on American society. The gradual movement of disabilities into the mainstream resulted in giving voice to persons with disabilities who emerged as challengers to virtually every aspect of social life impacting upon them. The culmination of this movement came when President Geroge H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Two ordained clergy would bring leadership to the disability movement within the UCC, Harold H. Wilke and Virginia Kreyer. Born with no arms, Wilke was the founder and director of the Healing Community, graduate of many distinguished schools of higher education, chaplain, administrator, and pastor. The Healing Community is an inter-faith religious organization assisting congregations to welcome those who had been alienated by religious groups, including (but not exclusively), persons with disabilities. The second ordained person, who brought profound leadership to the disability movement within the UCC was Virginia Kreyer. Born with cerebral palsy, Kreyer was ordained in the American Baptist Church. She served several years as a member of the professional staff to the local affiliate of the United Cerebral Palsy Association. After some time, she left her American Baptist congregation and joined the local UCC. Kreyer approached the Metropolitan Association requesting to have her credentials recognized. The officials were interested but required the Ms. Kreyer have a ministry to which she could be assigned. Subsequently, the Association suggested she assume the responsibility of providing leadership for the Task Force on Exceptional People which she was ultimately to initiate and direct. In 1976, this Task Force decided to present a resolution to the New York Conference. The resolution arrived late and was not considered until its last session. During discussion, a visitor from Japan arose to note that he had traveled across the United Stated and had not seen one person with a disability. In response, Ms. Kreyer took the floor and gave an impassioned speech in support of the resolution. The Conference responded by passing it unanimously and referred it to the next General Synod. On Monday, July 4, 1977, the Eleventh General Synod adopted the resolution entitled “The Church and the Handicapped.” Both Kreyer and Wilke gave speeches in favor of the action. To implement this General Synod resolution, an Advisory Committee on the Church and the Handicapped was formed. Harold Wilke, the first chairperson, called the inaugural meeting to order March 8, 1978. Virginia Kreyer had already been named the paid consultant to support this ministry. This body emerged through name changes to the committee, structural changes within the committee, and restructure of the wider church to be known today as the UCC Disabilities Ministries (UCC DM), and to be a fully recognized voting member of the Executive Council. The UCC DM is located in Local Church Ministries. Up to nine persons may serve on the UCC DM. In 1992, this committee supported the development of the Mental Illness Network (MIN). In 1995, Virginia Kreyer retired. In 1996, David Denham assumed the role of consultant. Like Kreyer, Denham had developed a Task Force on disability issues in the Central Atlantic Conference. Denham also had served as chairperson of the National Committee on Persons with Disabilities. The UCC DM has representation on the National Council of Churches Committee on Disabilities. The UCC DM and MIN are shaped today by three primary General Synod resolutions and other key initiatives:

1995

1999