Jesus gathers all the people together.

And another thing! August 26, 2025

Healing stories are complicated to preach. For one thing, there are plenty of people in every congregation who could use a healing miracle. Sometimes they get one, but often they get other forms of support. For another, our siblings who live with disabilities need to know that their disabilities are not a personal failure and that they are full members of the body of Christ.

I’ll admit that I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to those themes until seminary. It happened that Southern Seminary was the most physically accessible of all the Lutheran seminary campuses in the early 2000’s, so we had a few students who used wheelchairs, scooters, or other mobility aids. This doesn’t mean that Southern was particularly great about things, just that we had a few extra ramps and elevators in our buildings.

When you have classmates who can’t stand up, you start paying attention to how bodies are part of our liturgical worship. When you have folks who can’t walk in processions easily, you start thinking through how they can fully participate in worship. And when those folks are called to lead worship, they need dignified ways to reach the lectern and the chancel. Through no particular effort on my part, I started noticing how places are reachable or unreachable, and where our words can divide or unite.

Once my eyes were opened, I started seeing places in every congregation where our differences and disabilities show up. Every congregation has kids who can’t sit still. (Is it their age? Or ADHD? Does it matter which?) Every congregation has folks who can’t hear or see as well as they used to. Every congregation has people who get injured, people who get pregnancy complications, and people who navigate the world best with a walker or wheelchair. There are folks with intellectual disabilities and educational limitations. (There are more adults who can’t read than I had expected. They hide it well.) The barriers people face can be physical. There are also emotional barriers. People don’t want to be seen with mobility aids or oxygen tanks, so they stay home.

A few closing thoughts: Being the body of Christ is complicated. We do need each other and every member of this community has gifts to give and blessings to receive.

When someone is acting weirdly, we can try to figure out what need that behavior is meeting. Is it a sensory issue? Are they in pain? Is this their main social outlet for the week? Not all behaviors are helpful, particularly in worship, but they all have a reason behind them.

Architecture is architecture. We fix what we can fix and work with what we’ve got.

Finally, don’t be afraid to be in worship with the body you’ve got. If you need to stand in the back because your back can’t sit right now, go for it. If you need to move forward to hear or see better, do it. If your walker is in someone’s way, so be it. If you need to fidget to focus, go for it. Do whatever it is that helps you and won’t distract others. And if someone is doing something unusual, but it isn’t bothering anyone, ignore it. Not all behaviors are helpful at all times, but all God’s children have a place in God’s house.

Jesus gathers all the people together. The ones who need him most seem to flock to him. How blessed are we that, when we need Jesus, he sees us and lifts us up. How blessed are we to get to share that welcome with others.