🎨 “Real Equality” by Matteo Paganelli — A vibrant mural calling us to justice, unity, and the celebration of human diversity.

Access Sunday – Worship Service – October 12, 2025

Bulletin-10-12-2025

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:11–19 | Modern Lesson: Rev. Sarah Griffith Lund

This Sunday, we celebrated Access Sunday and Disabilities Awareness Sunday with a worship service rooted in compassion, belonging, and the holiness of difference. From beginning to end, the message was clear: God’s image is gloriously diverse, and wholeness is not about conformity—it’s about community.

Preaching from Luke 17:11–19, Pastor Chris offered a powerful sermon titled “To Be Made Whole, Not the Same.” He began by reflecting on how Jesus’ ministry consistently lifted up those on the margins—the cast out, the stigmatized, the ones society tried to erase. The ten people with skin disease cried out to Jesus not for a cure, but for mercy, compassion, and the restoration of dignity. “They wanted to be seen,” Pastor Chris said, “not excluded.”

As they went, they were healed. Yet, the story doesn’t end there. One—the Samaritan, a foreigner and outsider—turned back to thank Jesus. This act of gratitude becomes the heart of the Gospel. Luke emphasizes the man’s difference, and Jesus honors it. “Your faith has made you well,” he says—not normal, but well. The Greek word points to wholeness, to wellness of spirit, body, and soul.

Pastor Chris explored how this distinction changes everything. “Difference,” he said, “is not something to erase. It’s something to bless.” Too often, our world pressures people—especially LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, people with disabilities, and those who are neurodivergent—to hide who they are in order to be accepted. Yet Jesus never sought to make people the same. He called them whole. He called them beloved.

Quoting Rev. Sarah Griffith Lund, Pastor Chris reminded us that “we are not whole in spite of our differences, we are whole because of them.” Inclusion, then, is not a special ministry or an act of charity—it is love made visible. It’s what happens when the Church resists the impulse to erase differences and instead celebrates them as holy. “The truth,” he said, “is that honoring difference leads to life.”

The sermon challenged us to begin with ourselves—our attitudes, our communities, our language, and our willingness to see the image of God in every person. “We’re not being asked to change the world today,” Pastor Chris said. “We’re being asked to start with how we see one another.” He called the congregation to recognize the Spirit already moving at our borders, through our missions, and within our walls—restoring dignity, belonging, and joy.

Through storytelling, prayer, and music—including “Come Build a Church” and “I Love the Lord”—the service became an embodiment of its message: we encounter God not when we erase difference, but when we honor it. That is where healing begins. That is where the Church becomes whole.

📖🙏 Order of Worship Highlights:

• Prelude: “Just As I Am” – arr. L. Shackley
• Hymns: “Once a Sheep Was in a Pasture” | “God of Change and Glory”
• Modern Lesson: Rev. Sarah Griffith Lund – Minister for Disabilities & Mental Health, UCC
• Gospel Reading: Luke 17:11–19 – Jesus heals ten people, one returns to give thanks
• Sermon: “To Be Made Whole, Not the Same” – Pastor Chris
• Special Music: “Come Build a Church” | “I Love the Lord”
• Prayers of the People: Lifted in gratitude and intercession by the congregation
• Affirmation & Transformation Prayers: Grounded in our calling to welcome and justice

“Jesus does not tell the Samaritan, ‘Your faith has made you normal.’ He says, ‘Your faith has made you well.’ We are not whole in spite of our differences—we are whole because of them.” — Pastor Chris