Courtesy Photos
Children and families participate in a special worship service--designed for children and families with special needs--at Church of Our Saviour in Middleborough.
The Church of Our Saviour in Middleborough is continuing with a special worship service geared towards families and children with special needs, held on the first Sunday of every month.
"Our prayer is that Church of Our Saviour can be a [place of] stress-free worship for our families and an affirming, accepting space for the children," the rector, the Rev. David Milam, explained in an e-mail. "We hope our children come to experience a place they can connect with Jesus and be nurtured in the relationship in a way that is not available to them anywhere else in our community. In other words, we would like to offer them the opportunity to develop as a faith community on their own terms and in their own way."
The template for the service comes from Rhythms of Grace: Worship and Faith Formation for Children and Families with Special Needs, but the creative work and design of the service comes from members of the congregation with experience in the special needs community. The children are right up front and can sit in the chairs, on the floor or can be right up at the altar. The Eucharist itself is a simplified version, and only gluten free wafers are offered. During the service, tripods display large posters of lessons, songs and prayers for the day; and participants follow along with a laminated copy of the service. Routines and rituals are an important part of the service, as well as incorporating American Sign Language (ASL) into the worship.
"This service is a way to take seriously the meaning of being an inclusive community: to take down barriers that stop [a] dear child from coming to Jesus," Milam said. "It is not only important to our families and their children with special needs; by participating with the activities, singing and signing the music and the Lord's Prayer, it helps remind our adult community that being a child of God is one of the most mature attributes of faith there can be."
--Bridget K. Wood