Disability Awareness Sunday is an opportunity for the church to celebrate the love of God within the disability community. Often celebrated at different times throughout the year, it provides the church both a chance to hear about the struggles of the disability community in being fully included in the church, as well as to reflect on how the church is now the church without the disability community and their voice and presence.
What follows are various liturgies that can be used during Disability Awareness Sunday. They were written by Rev. Shannon Blosser, and are free to use in worship with proper sourcing.
Call To Worship
Leader: We are all God’s children, beloved and created by God to reflect the Lord’s image.
People: We celebrate the beloved glory of God found in every person.
Leader: We are all part of God’s family and God’s family reflects the image of God.
People: We are part of a family of God that embraces our abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
Leader: God’s family includes every person. We are a collection of people who love God. We are neurologically typical and neurologically divergent. Some are fully abled and some our disabled, yet we are part of God’s family. Some can move in the world without thinking about access. Some need additional access and help to live in the community, yet we are all part of God’s family.
People: God’s family is diverse and divergent. We are all part of God’s family. Thanks be to God!
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, you have created every person to reflect your image. Yet sometimes we struggle to embrace the created glory in people with disabilities and needs. We complain about the cost of adapting buildings to provide access to someone else. We park by ramps and use parking spaces designated for others, because we believe our needs are more important than someone else’s needs. We criticize people for not looking “disabled enough.” We exclude people with disabilities and their families because we do not appreciate what they are going through. Yet even when we fail to be the people you call us to be, God, you are present in the lives of those so often marginalized by our own inability to love people. Forgive us, God, for failing to love the people you love and embrace. Help us to be the people and church that fully embraces those with disabilities, both seen and unseen. Through Christ, we pray, Amen.
Benediction
May the grace of God move you to be a living witness of God’s love for all. May you go forth from this place with a desire to build ramps, improve access, and seek understanding in ways that build a more beloved community for every person. May we give witness to Christ by our desire to make room for every person. Amen.
Shannon Blosser 