Queering Isaiah 58: Communal Restoration and Justice

We are queering the whole chapter of Isaiah 58 in this week’s episode. There is so much in this chapter, especially when we look at themes of justice, community, and personal reflection. It’s especially interesting to look at how this chapter resonated with our younger selves and how we view it today. There is emphasis on the importance of treating marginalized individuals with care and the communal nature of faith. We feel called in this chapter to foster growth and imagination, focusing on our own unique gifts that come with queerness. 

Takeaways

• Isaiah 58 calls for justice and community care.
• Personal faith should reflect how we treat others.
• Communal restoration is a key aspect of faith.
• Revisiting scripture can lead to personal growth.
• Navigating privilege is essential in faith discussions.
• Sabbath is a time for rest and reflection.
• Imagining a better world is crucial for progress.
• Articulating a collective dream is necessary for change.
• Community support is vital for individual growth.
• Engagement with scripture fosters deeper understanding.

 

Chapters

(02:59) Personal Reflections on Faith and Justice
(06:02) The Communal Nature of Faith
(09:12) Revisiting Scripture: Growth and Reflection
(12:07) Navigating Privilege and Safety
(14:49) The Importance of Sabbath and Rest
(18:04) Imagining a Better World
(21:03) Articulating Our Collective Dream
(24:00) Conclusion: Community and Next Steps

 

Resources:

• Join our online community at  Sanctuary Collective Community 

If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology

 

This transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors or omissions.

Welcome to the Queer Theology Podcast. I’m Brian G Murphy. And I’m father Shannon, T l Kearns. We’re the co-founders of Queer Theology dot com and your hosts From Genesis to Revelation. The Bible declares good news to LGBTQ plus people, and we want to show you how Tune in each week on Sunday for conversations about Christianity, queerness and transness, and how they can enrich one another. We’re glad you’re here.

(2m 49s):
Hello, Hello, Hello and welcome back to the Queer Theology Podcast. Today we’re gonna go back to our roots yet again, and we’re gonna queer a passage from scripture. Today we’re gonna be looking at Isaiah 58, the whole chapter. Shay’s gonna read it for us in just a moment from the common English Bible. If you would like to pull up your Bible and read along, we would love to have you otherwise. Here is Isaiah 58. Shout loudly. Don’t hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Announce to my people, their crime, the house of Jacob, their sins. They seek me day after day, desiring knowledge of my ways, like a nation that acted righteously, that didn’t abandon their God. They ask me for righteous judgements, wanting to be close to God.

(3m 30s):
Why do we fast? And you don’t see why afflict ourselves, and you don’t notice yet on your fast day, you do whatever you want and oppress all your workers. You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast. You hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn’t fast as you’re doing today. If you wanna make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I choose? A day of self affliction, of bending one’s head, like a read and of lying down in morning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast day acceptable to the Lord? Isn’t this the fast I choose? Releasing wicked restraints and tying the ropes of a yolk, setting free the mistreated and breaking every yolk, isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked.

(4m 14s):
When you see them and not hiding them and not hiding from your own family, then your light will break out like the dawn and you’ll be healed quickly. Your own righteousness will walk before you and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. Then you’ll call and the Lord will answer. You’ll cry for help. And God will say, I’m here. If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger pointing, the wicked speech, if you open your heart to the hungry and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness and your gloom will be like the no. The Lord will continually, the Lord will guide you continually and provide for you even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You’ll be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won’t run dry.

(4m 57s):
They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account and foundations of generations past. You’ll restore, you’ll be called mender of broken walls, restore of lable streets. If you stop trampling the Sabbath, stop doing whatever you want on my holy day and consider the Sabbath of the Lord honored and honor it. Instead of doing things your way, seeking what you want and doing business as usual, then you will take delight in the Lord. I will let you ride on the heights of the earth. I’ll sustain you with the heritage of your ancestor, Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Oh, amen. This is the word of the Lord.

(5m 38s):
Oh, I love this passage. Yeah, it really brings me back this passage, or at least part of this passage, my first or second year in New York City. I observed lent for the first time, and every day on my lunch break, I would sneak away from my office job in my cubicle, And I would go to a nearby church And I would sit in the back pew. It was like it was open to the public, but like there weren’t services happening. And I would read the psalms and the prophets And I, I think that I like almost every day read a portion of this passage, if not the whole passage. And like the, is this, isn’t this the fast I chose releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free, mistreated, and breaking every yoke.

(6m 20s):
I would read at least that if not the whole passage, like every, every day. ’cause you know, lunch is a fasting holiday, I guess you would call a holiday. And so like, sort of like recentering, like this is the type of fast, right? And I remember being like, I was relatively newly out. I’d probably been out for, I don’t know, four or five years, And I was recently outta college And I was just sort of like, oh, it’s like so freaking hard to be queer and everyone is against us and the church misunderstands us and they’re focused on all of the wrong things and like, this is what we should care, But we should care about justice. And I remember being like, I am one of the oppressed and like God wants the yoke of my oppression to be broken.

(7m 5s):
And I do also remember being like, And I get to partner in other types of justice work to break other types of oppression. But like that the church, the church quote unquote, like writ large was sort of like missing the mark. And so I remember being really inspired by this and, and, but like sort of like schooled by a, like a righteous indignation sort of away. So I, this like really takes me back And I’m, it’s interesting now all these years later to see things I didn’t quite catch the first time around. Yeah. I, I love, I love this passage. I mean, the first part I like, the first response is always I read this And I’m like, are are evangelicals just like not reading scripture?

(7m 49s):
Like I don’t understand because I think about like how my church growing up would’ve interpreted this passage and it would’ve been, I mean, a, a shit show, but like Right, It, it would’ve been like, well then you just need, you’re, you’re doing too much on Sunday, right? That is the message that they would read, they would take out of this passage of like, you have to like honor the quote unquote Sabbath better and like, Go to Church more, which is like the total opposite of what this passage is saying, which is like, part of what you’re doing wrong is you’re like being a dick on the like the most holy day.

(8m 30s):
So like, get it together. But I’m, I’m so struck by how, once again, like how communal these, these prophetic texts are and how, and so many of the texts and scripture, like it’s not about me and my personal relationship with the divine. It’s like how am I treating my, am I treating the most marginalized in the mi in my, how am I treating people who are and who are without housing? And like that is the measure by which my and my religiosity.

(9m 13s):
Like that’s, that’s the yardstick, right? It’s not about like, did I fast and do my quiet time and go to church? It’s like how am I treating the people around me? And I think that this is such, also such a, one of my favorite parts of this, of this whole passage is, is verse 12, which is you’ll be called member of broken walls and restore of liberal of livable streets. And like this idea that for folks that are following in this way of justice, that like we will be the ones that will restore our communities, right?

(9m 56s):
It’s, it’s not just this sense of, I don’t know, personal piety. It’s this beautiful sense of communal restoration. And, And I think about like, we see this echoed in the Christian scriptures of like, they will know you are Christians by your love, which is so, it’s such a trite thing now. And now of course there are like tons of people who are saying yes. And the way that I tell people I love them is like by telling them their lives are sinful and that they’re like gonna, hell yeah. Right? And it’s, but it’s like no, like where, where is, where is the actionable good and care of community in the way that you’re living?

(10m 38s):
And, and this idea of restore of livable streets and member of walls in like, I I’m sure that you see this in the urban spaces that you’re living in. I see it in the rural spaces that I live in. Houses that are falling down streets that are, are in disarray. Like what does it look like to show up in a community and help rebuild and in and rebuild in a like life giving way, not in a gentrifying pricing out the poor people kind of way. Yeah. This is like, this is really taking me on a trip to memory lane.

(11m 20s):
This is why I love revisiting passage us of scripture over and over again throughout the years that like to, to read this passage that was so that I read in sort of the early days of my like queer, progressive faith life. Probably like the midpoint of my actual life, but like the early days of like my queer faith life and then to just come back to it now. Well, I’m old like, I don’t know, 15 years later, right? Like I think that if I was reflecting back on like my adult life since, since when I first like observed that for the first time, I think I would be like, oh, I think that there’s sort of like a solid core through line of my faith that has stayed like largely the same.

(12m 1s):
Like it definitely shifted a lot from when I was an evangelical to an adult. But like there then I sort of like settled into like, I’m a queer person of faith. I’m justice oriented. And like that has sort of like been consistent and the particularities of that maybe have changed in one, in one big way obviously, but like in general it feels like fairly consistent. And also I’m looking back and realizing that that’s like maybe not true. That I, maybe I like didn’t realize the ways in which my faith has shifted over time. ’cause I’m just like taken back to tho those pews and like, I really needed like the, the faith that sort of like got me free from oppression was like this, like righteous indignation.

(12m 44s):
They’re doing it wrong, tear it all down. Like I am seeing clearly I’m the oppressed. Like this is comfort to me. And in many ways that’s just like, that’s still true. But I think over the years I’ve, I’ve also began as I’ve become more certain in my faith as I become less and then not at all scared of God, I am more and more able to see conviction of myself in scripture and like, not in a shame inducing way, but just sort of a like calling me to a higher and better version of myself in a, a more inclusive and just community that we could be a part of.

(13m 25s):
So like, And I begin to shift from always having to be the victim in the story to sometimes maybe I can be the one that’s being challenged. And And I think that that then has like obviously like it’s good to be less shitty for the people who were, you were, who were, who were like maybe being shitty too, or it’s good to, you know, confront white supremacy for like, because of the targets of white supremacy. But, and also like in doing so, it like enriches my own life. And so like as I’ve been able to gently with my speech, I myself, but also allow my faith to convict me and not only not always comfort me, that also sort of paradoxically has enriched my faith and like then comforted me some more in the end.

(14m 16s):
So like that’s like one thing that I’m noticing that like, I think that I really needed to heal from being scared of God in order to see conviction in scripture, but like as I’ve done so it sort of does made my vision for like the way that the world could be even bigger. And, and then I, there’s like something about this like sabbath that I had had not noticed and that I’m noticing in a different way. Like perhaps unsurprisingly now that I’m Jewish, which I can talk more about, but I I that feels like a separate thought. So I’ll I’ll pause for now. Yeah, I I think that that’s like so, so important that there’s, there’s a nuance here, right? Because like queer and trans folks are marginalized and oppressed and especially like in the US as we’re recording this, like, it’s, it’s a scary time.

(15m 4s):
And, and also like I, something that I’ve been wrestling with a lot myself lately is that like as someone who is white and male presenting and like moves through the world with certain amounts of passing privilege, right? That there is, there are ways in which it’s not always, I have to, I have to be careful that I’m not always claiming safety when or claiming to be unsafe when in reality like I’m just uncomfortable and like, where are the lines in which I’m actually not at risk And I should be standing up or I should be putting myself on the line.

(15m 47s):
And like, where are the ways in which, no, this is actually an unsafe setting. And so like blending in or like choosing to be silent in that moment, like is, is a matter of, of safety and like, and how do I, how do I discern the difference and how do I like get, how do I even get comfortable being uncomfortable and, and potentially being unsafe when my safety is not the most important in a, in a particular room that I might be in. And I think that like, that has also been one of my journeys with scripture of like, where are the places, like you were saying, where I need to take comfort from the text, where I need to feel held, where I need to feel like God is on my side and, and gonna smite my enemies.

(16m 40s):
And where the places where like I need to maybe be smoking, right? Like not, not in a, not in a giant way, but in a, like a kick in the ass. Get yourself in gear, be a better achievement kind of way. And I, And I think that like there is right, that that’s like complicated. It’s not, there are no all of the time or easy answers. And I think that part of that is like growing in our faith and our maturity and our, both of our reading, but also our, our living And like you like, that is one of the reasons that I love revisiting texts and continuing to engage and to wrestle with and to grapple with scripture and tradition and community because like that is where growth happens Falls here.

(17m 30s):
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(18m 18s):
See se for details. Yeah. All, all of that. And so I mentioned like a little a moment ago that like this, this thing about the Sabbath trampling, the Sabbath stuck out to me in a way that maybe it didn’t before. And I, I think like, like you, my evangelical church would’ve like read it through the lens of like, the problem is is you’re not reading the Bible and you’re not coming to church on Sundays. And so then I I sort of would’ve been like, well that’s wrong And I would’ve like rejected that or maybe I even would’ve been like, oh, like observing the Sabbath is sort of like a legalistic practice that it was sort of, and Jesus did away with that and we don’t need that sort of thing anymore. And I would’ve used legalistic in a negative way.

(19m 1s):
And now as like a Jew who has sort of like taken on Jewish law and the whole like legal system and culture in addition to it, like a faith set of practices. I think that there actually, there’s like something about the Sabbath, it reminds me of all the stuff that we talk about like religious ritual and pr and spiritual practices that like, it’s not enough to keep the Sabbath, right? It just in the same way it’s like, it’s not enough to fast if you, if you are only fasting from food, right? And you’re not breaking the chains of injustice, like it’s a, it’s a fast that, that God is not interested in. Amos talks about like, I I hate, I despise religious festivals, right?

(19m 45s):
Like we’re, it’s clear in both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures that like faith has to be a practice as well as sort of like religious piety. And also like there’s something about not trampling on the Sabbath and like honoring it and delighting in it that, you know, Jewish Jewish theology holds that, like on Shabbat you sort of get a glimmer of like the way that the world could be in sort of like the new world. And it reminds me of a little bit about what you were talking about, Shay you’ve reflected back to me that when I go to Fire Island for vacation with my queer chosen family, like yes, it’s a vacation.

(20m 28s):
And yes, also now it’s become sort of like a tradition and so it’s meaningful because we do it over and over again with these people that we care about. And also there’s like something about the particularities of fire island and the ways in which the queer people that I know like relate to one another on that island that it’s sort of like, oh, this is like a vision of the way that the world could be outside of the island as well. And so like there’s something about like you, it’s like a yes and like you can’t be just sort of like in go, go, go, go, go mode all the time. You need to rest. I think that the Sabbath is a weekly rhythm of resetting and resting and imagining like the way the world could be so that then you can go mend the broken walls and restore the livable streets.

(21m 12s):
But you sort of have to have like, you have to have a vision in mind about what you’re building. I think it sort of, here here’s where I got to right? That it’s like, it’s like not enough to just be like, the evangelicals are wrong. Donald Trump is not a real Christian. Like Sean Floyd is like terrible and an asshole and focus on the family is garbage. Like yeah. Like all those things are true. Like, but like we’re not like them. They’re like they’ve got it wrong. Like can’t be the beginning and the end of your beliefs about the way that the world is. Like what is your vision for the way that the world could be? And like in Judaism, like Shabbat is sort of like one of the times that we use to like recenter and refocus on that.

(21m 56s):
But like all religious traditions have practices by which you could reorient yourself. I mean, I think like communion and Christianity is like another sort of beautiful practice of, we talk about this in our rituals for resistance and resilience workshop, like remembering the body and like reorienting sort of our positionality in the world that like it’s, for me it’s like a yes and like making sure that I’ve moved towards a theology that says like, I’m not just going to be reactive, but I’m going to, I’m going to re And I’m not just gonna, I’m not just gonna like shake my fist or I’m not just gonna quote tweet to dunk on people, but I’m going to restore livable streets and men broken walls and create the kingdom of God on earth as in heaven.

(22m 46s):
Or like, as you would say, like the world to come. Yeah. I I think that’s so huge, especially in this moment, right? In this moment, yeah. Where everything is like sliding to shit and Yeah. And they’re so, I don’t know, I, there’s just, I I’m watching the political moment and watching who we’re championing and it’s concerning for lots of reasons. But like the biggest one is that it just feels like there is so little prophetic imagination.

(23m 27s):
And by that I don’t mean like a diagnoses of what’s wrong. Like I I think we have a really good sense of what’s wrong. I think like every single person can feel in their very narrow and being what’s wrong. And we even maybe have a sense of like, sense what would make it better. But I don’t know that we have a collective vision of like the kind of community we wanna live in and then have it like where is our communal dream of safety and goodness and celebration and art and collective care and all of these things.

(24m 9s):
And it’s like, I I think that’s, you And I talk all the time about the gifts that queerness and ethical, non-monogamy and transness have to offer. And I think that they absolutely have gifts to offer in this present moment. And, and one of the things right, is like a vision of a world, a way of being that we’ve been told shouldn’t exist, But we have proved over and over again that it does, right? Because we exist. And so in the midst of that, like where are, where, where can we lean even harder into that and say, what could our collective future look like and stop?

(24m 55s):
And I say this as like, I’m indicting myself as I say this too, right? There’s a lot of ways of, of which it’s, it’s easy to say, well, the dream is this obviously, but like that could never happen because right, because like X, Y, Z because we don’t have the money, because we don’t have the time, because we don’t have the power, because we don’t have the yada, yada yada. And I think that there’s like a yes and right there is a way in which we form coalitions that are practical and also in the midst of the practicality, if we don’t have the audacious dream, the like, what would we do and who would we be if it didn’t matter about the money or the politics or the coalitions or the whatever.

(25m 45s):
Like I don’t feel like we have articulated well what that is. And like that’s, that’s something that I am, I’ve really been thinking about for myself lately and like in my communities of like, what is the dream? And then we can talk about like, how are we gonna get there, you know? But if without the dream, we don’t even have, we don’t even have the beginning of the, of the steps. Yeah. Amen. All of that. I, I find myself wanting to like wrap up the episode with like a boat or like, and here is like, here are your like Buzzfeed listicle three next steps to do.

(26m 24s):
And like, I don’t have that, I’m so sorry dear listener, but I think like, maybe like the first, what I, what I can share for like things that have worked for me is like paying attention to all of this is like, I think like step one, right? And then like what are the practices that you can do to sort of help stretch your imagination for the way that the world could be? How can you, like what practices can you do? Just sort of like stretch yourself for the ways in which like you personally could be differently. Where do you take inspiration from? And like this work is impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible to do it alone.

(27m 6s):
And so like, who are you in community with and like, living alongside of? And that can be a combination of in person and online. And so like thinking through all those things, maybe we’ll sort of like move you in the right direction. And of course, as always, if like these are sort of like questions you want to like wrestle together with, we would love to have you inside of sanctuary collective or online community. You can learn more at Queer Theology com slash community. And if you’re like interested in like one-on-one sports direction or like coaching or anything like that, reach out and we’ll talk to you more about that. But Sanctuary Collective Community is a great place to start. We’d love to have you inside of there. The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at Queer Theology dot com, which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters.

(27m 53s):
To Dive into more of the action, visit us at Queer Theology dot com. You can also connect with us online on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. We’ll see you next week.

The post Queering Isaiah 58: Communal Restoration and Justice appeared first on Queer Theology.