Living Language: Next Steps on Inclusion

The church in which I grew up had a beautiful set of stairs leading from the front door to the sanctuary. As a child, I loved skipping up those steps to enter the sanctuary, the steps giving me the feeling of entering a very special and sacred space. I also remember every Sunday watching a group of men meet my Auntie Pat and Uncle Bill as they arrived at the bottom of those steps. Auntie Pat, stricken with polio as a young woman, was in a wheelchair and needed to be lifted up those stairs.

The service began and the minister would invite us all to stand for the singing of “Holy, holy, holy.” Of course, Auntie Pat couldn’t stand, but we all just assumed that she would know that the minister didn’t mean her.

At one time, women were supposed to understand that “men” and “mankind” were meant to include women, too. I remember the morning when, as a cheeky teenager, I declared to the minister that it was nice to know that I wasn’t a sinner, since he had stated, echoing Romans 3:23, “All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” I just couldn’t understand myself as being included in “all men” and “mankind.”

Bit by bit, we are coming to recognize the many more ways that our language can exclude, even if we don’t mean to do so. While Auntie Pat was very gracious in accepting that she needed to be carried up the stairs and that the words “Stand up to sing” didn’t mean her, why should she need to graciously accept or reluctantly assume her exclusion? I sure wasn’t willing to accept the exclusion of my gender.

So, after you have written a prayer, read it over again. Have you asked people to “see” or “look”? Have you invited people to “hear the word,” or “raise hands in praise?” What if there are people in your congregation for whom those actions are not possible? They may seem to graciously accept that they need to adapt the language for themselves, but why should they have to?

It may feel awkward and uncomfortable at first for us as worship leaders to find other words, but as a wise friend said to me, “Maybe it is our turn to feel the discomfort that others have felt for years.”

So, consider alternatives that include rather than exclude:

• Instead of see try experience, feel, notice, or discover.
• Instead of hear try receive, encounter, or invite.
• Instead of walk try journey, travel, trek, or accompany.
• Instead of stand up try join, share in, or present yourself.

(See also the Exploring section of Gathering A/C/E 2020–21.)

Various sources indicate that writing intended to be read by the general public should be written at a Grade 8 level or lower. As I seek to write with more inclusive language, I sometimes find that I am making the prayer too complicated. It may take a bit of pondering and rewriting but the effort is worth it when people truly feel included in worship.

Susan Lukey, Editor