“‘I can’t preach in your pulpit,’ United Methodist Rev. Justin Hancock informed the small audience at the Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ. Everyone looked around stunned, until someone finally gathered the nerve to ask, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Your pulpit is not accessible to persons in wheelchairs,’ Hancock poignantly replied.

“Ours is a congregation that takes pride in being a welcoming space for all people. Founded in 1970, the Cathedral of Hope UCC is the largest LGBT church in the world. Regardless of such platitudes, Rev. Hancock helped us to understand that his inability to preach in our pulpit has nothing to do with his ability or theology and everything to do with the fact that he has a form of cerebral palsy that leaves him confined to a wheelchair. To say that this was a convicting moment for the gathered is an understatement, but the worst was yet to come.

“Through description of going on job interviews at numerous churches all over Texas, Rev. Hancock spoke of another tragedy. In congregation after congregation, hiring committees expressed tremendous confidence in Hancock. Time after time in place after place, the call would inevitably come: ‘Rev. Hancock you are a tremendously talented and were a inspiration to us in the interview, we just don’t see how you would connect to the people of our church.’

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