more beauty...

 I recently attended a webinar by Egale Canada, the first of their series to increase the understanding of anti-racism, Indigenization and faith in Canada from a 2SLGBTQI context. It was very well done, with four speakers (re)introducing the Black feminist concept of intersectionality, exploring its implications, and affirming its relevance to 2SLGBTQI organizations.

As a person of faith myself, I really appreciated the important discussion, being quite aware from real life of the tensions and antagonism that can be present between queer folx and religious communities.

I also saw the following post come across my social media feed recently, and was stunned speechless.

When I first read it, I stared at my phone screen, not even having thoughts of any sort, but just looking at the words, letting them float into my brain. To be honest, on their way to my brain, the words affected my eyes which got a bit teary…

“There is more beauty in a single trans child than in the whole of your theology.”

It can also be said, “There is more beauty in a single non-binary child… more beauty in a single intersex child… more beauty in a single queer child…  than in the whole of your theology.”

And I'll add this: 

“There is more beauty in YOU as a queer person than in the whole of anyone’s -ologies. The universe leaps for joy because of you.”

Related links:

Building Bridges page at https://egale.ca/awareness/buildingbridges/

Post from https://www.instagram.com/p/C3lZ3QNuWVe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

dear queer one...

 Something that has been very encouraging to me over the past months has been the Instagram posts by an organization for queer youth of faith, as they have a life-giving tone while avoiding sappiness.

I was inspired to create a similar image and message of my own to share with you and on social media - if you live in Edmonton you may recognize the downtown location where I took the photo that is the background, including the street preacher who believes he has good news but really doesn’t. Here it is:

Hope you are all having a great Pride month! You are loved!

my alphabet includes NB, T and Q…

I’d like to share with you today about my alphabet of love and, in particular, about why it includes four letters that I've come to love very much: N, B, T and Q.  

Non-binary, transgender and queer.  

I'm focusing on these four letters because I have some amazing, beautiful friends and colleagues who are non-binary, trans and queer. 

And because I've been learning to center people who are at the margins, those who are more oppressed by the structures of our society and by those in power. To figure out how the last can be first…

And because it seems that some people are actively and consciously choosing to leave the letters NB, T and Q out of their alphabet, and I think it is important to speak up about it.

Of course we know some people are against trans folx because of lies and misinformation they've been told by others for political gain or religious control.

But there are also members of the LGBTQ2S+ community who say things like “LGB without the T”. The distinction they are making is between themselves as people who have a minority sexual orientation - lesbian, gay, bisexual - and other people who have a minority gender identity and/or expression - trans, non-binary, queer.

I am sad when I hear this. It’s true that from a western perspective, sexual orientation and gender identity are usually considered to be two different things. But when those who are LGB want to advocate for themselves and leave out the T - and by extension, the NB, I'm not okay with that. 

At a practical level, this wrongly suggests that the two groups never overlap - that lesbian, gay and bisexual people are always cisgender and that transgender people are never lesbian, gay or bisexual. This is not the case.

It also wrongly suggests that what impacts transgender folx will not impact lesbian, gay and bisexual people. That's not the case either and ignores the reality that what's happening politically is not really about protecting trans kids but is about control and power, and LGB may be next… 

And finally, it leaves out queer people whose cultures - or queerness, for that matter - do not have the same distinction between sex and gender that is predominant in western culture.

hey beautiful!

The hallway just outside of the entrance to my office area has a bunch of items waiting to go off to surplus. Or perhaps forgotten altogether, as they've been there for a while. 

A few weeks ago, when I arrived early one day, I wrote "Hey Beautiful! Yes - you!!" on the top edge of this whiteboard, figuring there would be people who need to hear that.

I haven't heard any feedback, which is no surprise as most of the people in my area are in other teams entirely and I do not engage with them.

However, I have noted that one person at least has benefitted from this: me.

Every time I go through that hallway, I'm reminded of this reality. Hoping that some others are too, whether or not I hear about it.

[we either love and embrace...]

We are either a people who love, embrace, and enter into a caring posture with our family, friends, neighbors, strangers, and even enemies (real or imagined) 

or

we will spend our lives mercilessly trying to define who is lovable and who is not, who is worthy and who is not, who deserves my attention and who does not. Inevitably, we will end up loving people who look like us, think like us, and pledge allegiance to the same flag—and we will exclude the rest.

In this truly useless pursuit, we will separate ourselves from God (through tribal worship), from the world’s good (by avoiding healing and restoration), and from our very souls (through self-pre­occupation with ego).

Excerpt from Jack Jezreel. Spacing added. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/contemplation-action-week-2-summary-2017-07-08/

[love]

 To start off the year, here is an important message from Sir Ian McKellan:

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[every 10th jesus...]

This poster is from the collection of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. 

The title alludes to Alfred Kinsey's work in the 1940s which found that 10% of men in the United States are homosexual. Despite there being significant methodological reasons that this number should not be applied to the general population, the number "10%" has stuck.

From the details page:

By incorporating this statistic into Bouguereau’s traditional religious portrait, Handel challenges the understanding of Christian views on homosexuality. Bouguereau’s idyllic depiction of the affectionate infants Jesus and John the Baptist in the loving embrace of the Virgin Mary evoke Christ's and Mary's love and compassion for all humanity, including the ten percent who may be gay or lesbian. The peacefulness of the scene emphasizes the stark contrast between the great benevolence and love expressed by Christ in the Bible and the hatred and violence directed towards the LGBT community that some attempt to justify with Christian ideology.

[answering messages of hate with love]

Here's an innovative and constructive way to deal with racist graffiti:

Ibo Omari has a plan for when he comes across a swastika painted onto a wall in his hometown of Berlin. He’ll grab a can of spray paint from the graffiti supply shop that he owns, and cover it up. But Omari doesn’t just erase the Nazi trademark—he transforms it.

Since launching Berlin #PaintBack earlier this year, Omari and his fellow organizers have covered up at least 20 swastikas across Berlin, leaving an array of whimsical street art where symbols of hate were once visible.

Read more about how #PaintBack is transforming neo-nazi graffiti into whimsical street art.
https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/08/transforming-neo-nazi-graffiti-into-whimsical-street-art/497867/

Here's a Canadian story where a church in Waterloo did something quite similar.

bread, stones and parents

We give sons & daughters a serpent instead of a fish, a stone instead of bread. They leave-we say it's due to "cultural relativism."

— Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) April 20, 2017

Which daughters and sons are being given stones and serpents?

Which daughters and sons are being stoned 

instead of fed and nourished?

Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Luke 11:11 (NIV)
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[a] a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

[god and us]

more than others...

[from john pavlovitz: the church beloved]

In a recent post, John Pavlovitz presents:

The Church Beloved: A Manifesto of LGBTQ-Affirming Christians

Here's an excerpt:

A new Church is coming, or rather with each passing day it is becoming; person by person being renovated.

Heart by heart it is waking up.

For a long time we have been shamed into silence, relegated to the periphery of the faith community, believing in quiet. But these days demand volume and today we raise our voices so that there can be no mistaking our intentions.

We are unrepentantly, unwaveringly LGBTQ-affirming Christians.

We will continue to make the Church and this world a more open, loving, and safe place for the queer community and their families.

Read the rest of the manifesto:
http://johnpavlovitz.com/2016/06/29/the-church-beloved-a-manifesto-of-becoming/

[an orthodox rabbi walked into a gay african-american bar…]

The tragedy that took place in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando has affected many people. In this article, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld shares how his Orthodox congregation responded.

I love this true story for a few reasons:

1. It shows that differences do not have to be barriers
2. It gives an example of how we can cry with those who cry and laugh with those who laugh
3. It shows how we can be Christ-incarnate in the midst of others’ lives
4. It reveals how, when it comes down to it, we often have far more connections with others than we first expected.

Here's the beginning of the story:

When our synagogue heard about the horrific tragedy that took place at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, it was at the same time that we were celebrating our festival of Shavuot, which celebrates God’s giving of the Torah.

As Orthodox Jews, we don’t travel or use the Internet on the Sabbath or on holidays, such as Shavuot. But on Sunday night, as we heard the news, I announced from the pulpit that as soon as the holiday ended at 9:17 p.m. Monday, we would travel from our synagogue in Northwest Washington to a gay bar as an act of solidarity.

We just wanted to share the message that we were all in tremendous pain and that our lives were not going on as normal. Even though the holiday is a joyous occasion, I felt tears in my eyes as I recited our sacred prayers.

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld June 15, 2016

Read the entire article here...

a joy to hear their voice and be in their presence

After previewing my video on uncertain spaces, a friend wrote this to me:

Hi Rob:

I have so many thoughts upon hearing this that it is hard to respond. My foremost thought (about your video) is that I loved to hear your voice. It is so you.  I guess that is what I want to feed-back to you.

If we really love people then all those things about them that might cause us "concern" are not so important. It is just a joy to hear their voice and to be in their presence.

So when can you and I get together to talk? D.

Hear the voice which inspired his comments.

[the only place?]

Rachel Held Evans recently said this about the church:

You can get a cup of coffee with your friends anywhere, but church is the only place you can get ashes smudged on your forehead as a reminder of your mortality. You can be dazzled by a light show at a concert on any given weekend, but church is the only place that fills a sanctuary with candlelight and hymns on Christmas Eve. You can snag all sorts of free swag for brand loyalty online, but church is the only place where you are named a beloved child of God with a cold plunge into the water. You can share food with the hungry at any homeless shelter, but only the church teaches that a shared meal brings us into the very presence of God.

(source)

---

And I think, yes! and then, I think, hmmmm, maybe church isn't the only place where these things happen....


You get ashes smudged on your forehead while running to catch the subway ...


We sing 40 in a stadium to the light of phone screens...


Someone calls me beautiful in a chat window...

Friends share a meal with Jesus at the local pub....

thesis / antithesis

[practice resurrection]

Would love to be there! Am hoping that the talk is posted online and if so, will put the link here.

on the 7,665,716,806th day...

Do you think that the last time God looked at what he made and said it was "very good" was the sixth day of creation?

Not a chance. When he created you, he said, "Very good!" "Beautiful!" "Wow, will you look at that!"

god has more thoughts about being erased

After a good night's sleep, God has further thoughts on being erased by the Edmonton Atheist Society:

Check out God's previous response.

jesus and his "moral circle"

Enlarged spleen, enlarged prostate, enlarged heart... 

enlarged moral circle??

If you have not seen my previous post about the moral circle, read this first.

Of course, Jesus wouldn't see a doctor about his moral circle being enlarged, as he wouldn't see an enlarged moral circle as a problem. In fact, if Jesus even has a "moral circle", it probably looks like this:

Now that's a large "moral circle" -- more commonly referred to as extravagant, limitless self-giving love. What do you expect from a God who so loved the world, and from his Son who embraces everyone...

And we who are followers of Jesus, are called to follow him in loving in extravagant, limitless, self-giving love. Time to work on some circle-enlarging exercises....