An Interfaith Reflection on the ADA: 30 Years Later

An Interfaith Reflection on the ADA: 30 Years Later
July 22, 2020 – Benedictory Prayer

Dear Friends, we gather now for a time of reflection and recommitment, by reaching out in this moment to the one whom we revere: the one whom we name as the source of all life and all love, the author of justice.

And as we turn our hearts and minds to that magnificence, let’s offer our gratitude:

Almighty One, we’re grateful for our ancestors and our elders, who championed the causes of human dignity and insisted that difference in communication, variations in bodies, and neurodiversity are not weakness, but each and all contribute in their own way to the greatness and the unfolding potential of this miracle that is called the Human Family.

We’re grateful for those who continue the work of disability rights.  Who share their prophetic voice, who relish creativity and ingenuity and innovation, and delight in showing an otherwise resistant world that there is indeed a way for all people to be included and empowered, to participate and to grow in their potential. 

Almighty One, let it be that we find ourselves counted among such as these.  As we leave this time together, renew our passion for disability justice, and inspire us to find new and lasting ways to tear down the artificial barriers of body and mind that separate us from one another.

Enable us to live boldly into a world that reflects your Salaam, Peace, Shalom, Shanti.  Amen.

 

Rev. Michelle Beadle holds a Master’s in Public Administration from The American University, is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and is an ordained minister with The United Church of Christ.  She currently works as the Executive Assistant to the General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society for the United Methodist Church and serves as a Co-Chair of the Interfaith Disability Advisory Coalition.