Wednesday, June 27, 2018

[on the importance of representation...]


Jamal Jordan writes about growing up in a world where he saw no examples of queer people of colour, and how he began taking portraits as part of changing this.

Pat Martin and Paulette Thomas-Martin are both 66 and have 13 grand children between them from the lives they lived before they met. Photo by Jamal Jordan.
"As a child, I thought all gay people were white.

By the time I was 18 and living in Detroit, being gay was no longer a “problem” for me. I was out of the closet, and my family and friends were supportive, even encouraging. Yet, as I set off for college, and grew more comfortable calling myself an adult, a man — a gay black man — I was convinced that no one would ever date or love me.

Growing up, I had rarely seen queer characters of color in the gay young adult books I read, in episodes of “Queer as Folk” I watched or issues of “XY” or “Out” magazines I stealthily bought at Barnes & Noble."

Jamal Jordan, photographer, in Queer Love in Color
Read the rest of the article and see more portraits at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/queer-love-in-color.html

See also https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/insider/brown-black-queer-and-invisible.html

Monday, June 11, 2018

[welcome and safe at steinhauer united]

welcome and safe sign at southminster steinhauer united church: "all sizes, all ages, all colours, all cultures, all genders, all sexualities, all religions (or none), all types, all people: welcome and safe here"

In the lobby of Southminster Steinhauer United Church in Edmonton. 
Rainbow banners fly outside the front doors.

Tuesday, June 05, 2018

draw the circle wide


"circling around" cartoon by rob goetze. Two men standing. One says, "Haven't seen Jesus for a few days..." to which the other replies, "Yeah, he said he was going to draw a circle around everyone who is in, headed off the other way, and we haven't seen him since." A blue line circles around his feet, and then runs across the countryside, circling around village and houses, and then runs off the page.


We sang the song "Draw the Circle Wide" at church a few weeks ago and it fits well with this blog. Some will say "there shouldn't be a circle at all" (and I generally agree) -- however, if you read the lyrics, you will see that essentially everyone ends up inside the circle...

Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.
Let this be our song: no one stands alone.
Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide...

God the still-point of the circle
Round you all creation turns
Nothing lost but held forever
in God's gracious arms

Refrain

Let our hearts touch far horizons
So encompass great and small
Let our loving know no borders
Faithful to God's call

Refrain

Let the dreams we dream be larger
Than we've ever dreamed before
Let the dream of Christ be in us
Open every door!

Refrain



Click here to watch the video if your device does not support embedded videos.

"Draw the Circle Wide"
Hymn by Gordon Light and Mark Miller

Read more about moral circles.

If there is no circle, you might either belong... or everyone might just be little bits floating around in the vastness of space...