How the children respond to our special worship services intrigue me! I am constantly looking around the chapel room to "read" their reactions. Do you check with friends on Facebook or Twitter? I check on my friends as soon as they walk (or wheel) in to the chapel room. I look at their faces and watch their hand movements. Is anyone in distress? Does anyone have "worried hands"? Is there a smile on someones face because they know it's time for chapel? Do these wonderful children of Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Asperger syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, Bi-polar disorders and other disabilities have any words to share with me?
My passion and focus for 25 minutes is to do everything possible to enable children with these Intellectual Disabilities to enjoy worship, understand God's loving Word and be in meaningful fellowship. We are quite an unusual gathering. We are a special community, indeed.
I am graced. I am honored. I am so blessed to be able to lead my friends and their caregivers in the worship of our Heavenly Father through the knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
These past two weeks have been busy ones as our worship services have expanded from one day a week to three! I sincerely apologize for the gap in blog posts! I know that there are many of you from around the world that are, like me, fascinated by the power of God through this ministry to disabled children. I have many "empty tomb" moments (see January 19th post) to describe to you from the last two weeks.
During one of the new Saturday chapel services, a teenage girl was the originator of an unexpected topic. This was her first visit to the overnight respite care facility. She must have felt very comfortable in our worship setting. She shared something that had been bothering her for over two years!
"My mother passed away two years ago." she blurted out in between songs. "Wow", I immediately thought. This is the Holy Spirit working in our midst again! I said to my young friend, "I'm glad you shared that with us. At the end of chapel we are going to share a special blessing with you".
She then posed this question: "Will the blessing make me sad? I feel sad when I think about my mom passing away." (Passed away? This wonderful girl did not know where her mother was! Did she think that "passed away" meant "no longer exists"?) I said to her that blessings are not sad. Blessings give us joy. Then I mentioned again that we will say a very special blessing for her near the end of the chapel service.
In our "Worship For All" format, before we sing our last song, every person in the room receives a blessing. Our blessing is said individually to each volunteer, caregiver and child. All blessings are said while being firmly touched on the shoulder, knee or shoe. Where the child is touched depends on their sensitivity to touch.
When it was my teenage friend's turn to receive her blessing I wanted to also give her some assurance about her mom. I said the following to her: "Don't be worried. Your mom is in Heaven. Jesus is with her. She is happy. She is worshipping God around God's throne!" I wish I had also stated the obvious to her although she may have understood this better than me. She and her mom were doing the same thing but in different places! They were both worshipping God. My young friend was worshipping God on Earth. Her mom was worshipping Him in Heaven.
Did our chapel service help my friend put aside her worries? Yes, I'm quite sure it did. How do I know? A few moments after the service ended this young girl surprised us all by asking if we could sing "Happy Birthday". She left the room with a smile on her face!
This is the Worship For All blog. It has a heavenly ending.
Next Up: "Go tell it on a
No comments:
Post a Comment