Every language

One of the things about my church that I think is really cool is that they have ASL translation at one of the evening services, so that people who are deaf can more easily engage with and participate in the parts of the service that aren’t written down. Tonight they went one step farther. There’s usually some sort of music performed while the offering plates are being passed around, and tonight it was sung by a mixed group of deaf and hearing people (I think they’re all in a Bible study group together). One woman sang into the microphone, and everyone else sang by signing.

I just thought that was incredibly cool, and a great way of encouraging and supporting the diversity we have in our congregation. I got all teary-eyed, and all that.

Of course, later on in the service there was something completely unrelated that I was annoyed and offended by. But I guess there’s something positive even in that. We all come together each week to worship God, and we have different ideas about how to do that, so much so that it’s pretty much impossible to do anything without offending someone. And yet, we still keep coming. We keep trying.

And every so often, something happens to remind me why I keep showing up, week after week.