plain to understand...

For those folks who believe the Word of God is plain to understand...

... it seems that "plain to understand" is often a matter of picking verses and how you want to understand them.

[pastoral blessing for trans and non-binary parishioners]

In June 2023, at their General Synod, 

"The Anglican Church of Canada has approved the use of new pastoral liturgical texts that fully embrace transgender and gender non-binary people in its church. 

The text, which is wording that would be used during a worship service across all Anglican parishes, includes blessings for the gender transition process, affirmation of gender identity, along with scripture readings and appropriate hymns." (from CBC)

 

Here's a key phrase that stood out for me:

"I think that the rise in fear and hatred and violence against gender queer people has galvanized the Anglican Church of Canada [and] its leadership, and we want to be doing more than you know statements against homophobia, statements against transphobia," said [Rev. Eileen] Scully.

Anyone can make statements - but statements do not usually make the world a better place for minoritized people, so I'm delighted to see this positive and real step forward to increasing the inclusion of transgender and non-binary parishioners!

---

The new "Pastoral Liturgies for Journeys of Gender Affirmation and Transition" can be found at https://www.anglicanlutheran.ca/wp-content/uploads/6e-Report-008-%E2%80%93-Appendix-E-Pastoral-Liturgies-Gender-Transition.pdf

Source of quotes: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/anglican-church-of-canada-introduces-pastoral-blessing-for-transgender-and-gender-non-binary-parishioners-1.6899973#

[meryl mcmaster - bloodline]

 I've been a fan of Meryl McMaster's work for a while now, since first seeing one of her photographs at the Art Gallery of Alberta a few years back.

This past spring, her work was exhibited at the McMichael Gallery north of Toronto. I wasn't able to attend, but instead bought the book -- and it is so worth it! Along with many gorgeous and intriguing photographs, the layout is attractive. Each section in the book also includes text by McMaster giving insight and background. Some photographs are accompanied by poems.

From the McMichael Collection webpage: 

Hardcover, 240 pages, plus foldout

140+ colour photographs

The Magenta Foundation, Remai Modern, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2023

The first monograph of Canadian Plains Cree artist Meryl McMaster whose work reflects her mixed Plains Cree, Dutch and British ancestry. The publication looks back to McMaster’s past accomplishments and bring us up to date on her current explorations of family histories, in particular those of her Plains Cree female forebears from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in present day Saskatchewan.

Published by The Magenta Foundation in partnership with McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Remai Modern. A lavishly illustrated testimonial to McMaster’s past and present production, the book includes a foreword by Buffy Sainte-Marie, poem by Louise B. Halfe, an interview with the artist by Sarah Milroy, as well as a response to McMaster’s work from noted Métis writer, filmmaker, and activist Maria Campbell, a respected senior voice in Canadian literature.

To see more and to purchase: https://shop.mcmichael.com/products/meryl-mcmaster-bloodline

[supporting Black queer heroes]

“If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.” — Bayard Rustin 

Bayard Rustin was a leader in both the civil rights and gay rights movements. He organized and led civil rights protests in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.  Most notably the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who recognized Rustin’s “expertise and commitment in this area” (Papers 5:390), and earning him the affectionate nickname “Mr. March on Washington” from other civil rights leaders.

Rustin also traveled to India in 1948 to expand his knowledge on non-violent strategies from Mahatma Gandhi.

Rustin was an openly gay man at a time when this was especially not accepted, dangerous even, and thus was often an “influential advisor behind the scenes to civil-rights leaders” (Wikipedia). In the 1980’s, his activism for gay rights became more public, including working intersectionally to “bring the AIDS crisis to the attention of” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (CCGSD)

He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

Read more: Why The Black Community Should Proudly Support Black Queer Heroes: More people should be quoting Bayard Rustin

https://medium.com/afrosapiophile/why-the-black-community-should-proudly-support-black-queer-heroes-5a814d05bb14

Photo credit:

By Leffler, Warren K., photographer; cropped by Beyond My Ken (talk) 09:59, 25 November 2010 (UTC) - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsc.01272. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12143472

[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/

[standing with you...]

 

International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

Amazing graphic courtesy of may17.org

(6 versions available at may17.org)

Along with being about people and advocacy which I affirm and work for, these posters are absolutely gorgeous and I love the way they have incorporated different races, body types and abilities in the midst of the IDAHOBIT theme… 

"universal" washroom

A joke:

Question: What do you call a non-binary deer?

Answer: Dear.

---

Here's a cool version of a washroom sign at the Husky/Tim Horton's in Canmore. Very thematically appropriate as you'll know if you've ever been in Canmore or looked it up on a map.

One thing that's missing, despite its claim to be "universal", is that it still presumes two genders, as seen by the standard figure with pants with a buck's head and the standard figure with a skirt with the female deer head. 

What to put instead? 

How about a toilet? With a wheelchair to indicate barrier-free, and an image of a change table... Maybe the words "Restroom" or "Toilet"

Nowhere near as fun as antlers, I must say...

But going deeper, the problem with this sign is that it is conventionally unconventional - it is still cisheteronormative regardless of cute imagery. It is based on the foundation that presumes everyone is cisgender and heterosexual. 

And that's simply not true and not inclusive of all of God's creation.

mr mike's "he she" hallway

Saw this at the Mr. Mike's restaurant in North Edmonton - an open hallway with multiple doors, each with moustache and lips (some also with wheelchair and baby logos).

Not perfect, as the signs are still based on a gender binary, but pretty good.

It provides the second best alternative to truly gender-neutral washrooms: single-user washrooms with dual gender signage. This means that transgender and non-binary patrons can go into any available washroom without anyone hassling them for being "in the wrong washroom" No one will hassle them for what door they go through, and no one will hassle them for which washroom they are actually in (cuz they'll be in there by themselves).

I imagine that Mr. Mike's interior designers were going for cute and having the signage here align with the signage elsewhere in the restaurant. However, with a bit more creativity, they probably could have come up with all-gender signage that was still on brand!

What do you think? What kind of design would clearly indicate that these are washrooms, while still having a fun element?

[Kent Monkman at the alberta gallery of art]

 

If you are a fan of Kent Monkman as I am, and live in the Edmonton area, here's an opportunity to see four of his works -- at the Alberta Gallery of Art.

On until May 21, 2023, the Generations exhibit includes the three works seen above plus one more in another gallery. 

Of particular interest to me were the two paintings seen at the centre and right above (Resurgence of the People, and Welcoming the Newcomers, respectively). As you can see, they are large and detailed -- yet these are the studies for the final versions that are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art... final versions which are monumental at 11' x 22' in size. Nonetheless, as I can't get to New York anytime soon, it was amazing to see them this close up!

The artwork in the front is a "sculptural installation Museological Grand Hall by the contemporary Mi'kmaw artist Ursula Johnson [which] evokes a silent vigil for her female ancestors - makers of baskets..." (from the museum label).

six of my favouritist books

Here are six of my most favourite books, listed in the order that they appear in the image above:

1. Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf (more)
2. transforming: the Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians, by Austen Hartke (more)
3. God is a Black Woman, by Christena Cleveland (more)
4. Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality, by Richard Beck (more)
5. Where the Edge Gathers: A Theology of Radical Inclusion, by Yvette A. Flunder (more)
6. Grace (visual edition) by Philip Yancey (more)

In keeping with my late father's saying that "to read a good book only once is laziness," I have read each of these books at least twice and have read sections of three of them multiple times.

[an excerpt from "a booklet of uncommon prayer: collects for the #blacklivesmatter movement"]

Christians for Social Action has published A Booklet of Uncommon Prayer: Collects for the Black Lives Matter Movement—and Beyond, by Kenji Kuramitsu. 

This is an excerpt from the poem a prayer against the marginalization of queer people:

Triune God,

You exist beyond categorization and beyond the limits of what we can understand.

Reveal to us the fluid, all-embracing community of love and light that is at the heart of your character in three persons.

End all oppression and indignities...

---

Read the whole poem: https://christiansforsocialaction.org/resource/a-prayer-against-the-marginalization-of-queer-people/

Find out more about and order the Booklet of Uncommon Prayer: https://christiansforsocialaction.org/resource/booklet-of-uncommon-prayer-prayers-for-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

land and water, only!

You may have heard the saying that there are two kinds of people in the world—

those who divide people into two kinds,

 and those who don’t...

We love categorizing things, especially into opposites: land and sea, sun and moon, day and night, light and dark, male and female. And it's easy to read a passage in the Bible and assume that this is how things are. For example, that when God made humankind and it says, "male and female he created them", that this is all there is. There are men and there are women.

Let's step back and take a look at some earlier verses in Genesis 1:

 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:9-10 NIV)

God took one thing (the water under the sky) and divided it into two things. Land. Seas. That's all there is.

But that's not all there is. Land meets sea and sea meets land, and where they do, there are things like marshes, which are not land and not sea. Oh, oh. They are in between, sort of land and sort of water. They don't fit the creation story. Are they bad? Evil? The result of the fall? Or a natural part of God's creation? And what about swamps and bogs?

marshes and transgender folx

 

This cartoon will make more sense to you if you read my other post.

I want to focus on one key part of what God says above: "... that people would take everything so literally and unkindly..." 

Why do we take things so literally and unkindly? Why do we default to suspicion over grace, to being right over relationship, to not giving the benefit of the doubt?

Isn't this the opposite of grace, the opposite of Jesus?

strategically inclusive leadership #3: the table I long for....

[core topic]

This is part of an ongoing series 
on strategically inclusive leadership. 
Read the introduction here.

You may be familiar with some sayings about "if they don't give you a seat at the table… then _______”. For example: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring your own chair.” or “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, build your own table."

In the context of such sayings, “table” is usually the conference table, the executive decision-making table. 

I'd like to share a quote with you from Jeff Chu. Jeff is Chinese American, a journalist and author of Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America. Here’s what he said:

"The Table I long for...

is one where all are not just welcome

but desperately & fiercely wanted."

Isn’t that amazing? Wouldn’t that be the table to beat all tables?

reflect

Before we look at this in the context of strategically inclusive leadership, let's take a moment to reflect by ourselves. We won’t be asking anyone to share, or to draw pictures of what you thought about, or any of that. Let’s just close our eyes, slow down our breathing, and reflect: are there or have there been times and places where I am desperately and fiercely wanted? 

(Pause again to let people reflect)

That’s the personal backdrop… 

While Jeff  said this in the context of the communion table in his faith tradition, you as the leadership of a community organization or ERG could explore what this might look like by thinking of "the table" as your organization or ERG. 

[Happy International Women's Day!]

 

Celebrating International Women's Day and all women, transgender and cisgender -  recognizing also that there are some who present as women and have similar experiences to women but are non-binary.

Picture is of a Hershey chocolate bar with packaging specifically for this month: "Her for She". Featuring Fae Johnstone of Wisdom 2 Action. Art by @gosiakomorski 

Picture is of a Hershey chocolate bar with packaging specifically for this month: "Her for She". Featuring Autumn Peltier. Art by @gosiakomorski