Queer Theology

There is no rule that every ritual needs to be old or a traditional Christian one performed in a church. In this episode, we look at the surprising places you can find rituals in what you are already doing. Brian explains how you can recognize rituals that support you and your communities, how they can be just as sacred as traditional Christian rituals and connect you to the divine. Learn how you can look to repeated practices or habits that can be imbued with a special and powerful meaning that increases in the repetition over time and brings resilience in your private practice, or resistance in a public space.   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.   If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.    Photo by Mikhail Nilov The post Rituals for Resistance and Resilience: You Might Have More Rituals Than You Think appeared first on Queer Theology.

We dive into a few of the rituals that already exist in the Christian church for this episode: Baptism, Communion/the Eucharist, the Liturgy/Liturgical Year, and Prayer. We explore ways to find new meaning in these old rituals and hope this conversation sparks a desire in you to reconnect with these rituals in new and life-giving ways- but only if they do not cause you harm. Follow along as we really go deep into what these rituals were meant to accomplish, how they are viewed by different denominations, and how we can begin to view them as rituals for resistance within our communities.     Links: Liberating Rites: Understanding the Transformative Power of Ritual by Tom F. Driver  Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality by Richard Beck Take This Bread by Sara Miles Torture and Eucharist by William T. Cavanaugh Claiming Earth As a Common Ground by Andrea Cohen-Kiener Radical Reinvention by Kaya Oakes   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.   If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.    Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko The post Rituals for Resistance and Resilience: The Surprising Meaning Behind What We Have appeared first on Queer Theology.

It’s the official launch day for Fr. Shay’s book, In The Margins: A Transgender Man’s Journey With Scripture, and to celebrate we’re giving y’all a super special podcast episode! Listen in as Shay discusses why he wrote this book, who he wrote this book for, answers questions, and reads an excerpt from his story. If you haven’t already, make sure to grab a copy!    You can find ways to order at queertheology.com/in-the-margins   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.   If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.  The post In The Margins: Launch Day Special appeared first on Queer Theology.

Welcome to our new four part series on rituals! What are rituals? How can we use them for resistance? How can they build resilience in us and our communities? We’ll answer these questions and talk about how rituals can connect us to our history and give meaning to our lives but also how they can be harmful, disconnected, and come from old Christian rituals that no longer work for you. Tune in as we discuss the power of rituals and how you can begin choosing ones that are sacred and meaningful to you.    Links: The Power of Ritual by Casper ter Kuile   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.   If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.    Photo by Pixabay The post Rituals for Resistance and Resilience appeared first on Queer Theology.

It’s time for another Q&A episode where Brian and Fr. Shay answers a selection of burning questions submitted by our listeners! If you have a question you would like answered, please send them over at the email below, or at queertheology.com/listen and submit a video or audio question. We’d love to feature your voice or question on our next episode of Asked And Answered!   Questions answered in this episode: I’m trans/femine/non-binary and want to transition but am scared it’s like telling God I was a mistake. And my family is transphobic. What should I do? Do I lose everything for me, or do I suffer for others? How can I know if my fasting, prayers, and almsgiving are pleasing to God? Am I doing enough or not doing enough? Am I approaching God to be in God’s loving presence or am I motivated by my own goals and agenda or seeking attention? I know of a Christian denomination that doesn’t believe in celebrating Christmas or Easter because they think it doesn’t say you should in the Bible. What do you think? I need some help finding something in the Hebrew Bible that I know is there, but I can’t find the chapter and verse. It’s about the penalties for causing a woman to miscarry and about how they are lighter before they have “quickened”. The reason why I am asking is of course related to recent events and family arguments around them. How can we incorporate pagan and nature spirituality into our celebration of what Jesus did on the cross?    Article and episode: If God Does Not Make Mistakes Why Are You Transgender?: https://www.queertheology.com/if-god-does-not-make-mistakes-why-are-you-transgender/ Growing up Suburban Jewish & Finding Your Faith With Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg: https://www.queertheology.com/podcast/435/ To listen to some more episodes of the podcast or submit a video or voice question: https://www.queertheology.com/listen/ Jewish Study Bible    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. If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com. The post Asked And Answered: July 2022 appeared first on Queer Theology.

As we close this series on affirming parenting, we had the opportunity to talk with three different parents and get their unique take on raising kids in our world today. We hear from Rev. Kim Wildszewski and Candiace Czubernat on their perspective as queer parents raising young children. They each explain how their queerness has informed and enriched their parenting and what cis/straight parents can do when faced with their queer kids leaving family faith traditions. We also hear from John, a former conservative Christian church member, and his experience having one of his children come out to him as trans. While each of these parents has a different queer parenting story and advice, all of them agree- your job as a parent is to unconditionally love and support your child on their journey of discovering who they are.    Links: Candice Czubernat: https://www.thechristiancloset.com/   Book: Trans Like Me https://www.amazon.com/Trans-Like-Me-Conversations-All/dp/1580057853   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.   If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.    Photo by Jana Sabeth The post Affirming Parenting: Queer Parents’ Perspective appeared first on Queer Theology.

This episode is all about the simple actions parents can take to show their affirmation. We encourage you to have age-appropriate conversations with your kids about sex, introduce your child and expand your circle to include queer folks who are thriving at all stages of life, and hold space for complexity and nuance in your kids. But the number one action you can do to lead the way on being an example and affirming ally? Don’t take your kids to a homophobic church! Tune in as we talk about implicit bias and its insidious messaging kids absorb and what you can do to combat this.    Resources: Children’s books: https://www.flamingorampant.com/ Author S. Bear Bergman: https://www.sbearbergman.com/ Book: Trans Bodies, Trans Selves http://transbodies.com/   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. If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.   Photo by Aiden Cravert The post Affirming Parenting: How To Do It Right appeared first on Queer Theology.

How can cis-straight parents be a better ally, offer more support, and be a better parent to kids who are coming out? We’ve received this question countless times, and so we talk more about that in today’s episode. Parents often come from the role of teacher, but this moment is an opportunity and invitation to learn more and respectfully enter your child’s queer life. Shay reminds us that ally is a verb, and as a parent, it is your job to do the hard work of making amends, educating yourself, and respecting boundaries. Brian calls on parents to get a little uncomfortable and go out and do the work of advocating among their cis-straight peers to create a safe space for queer and trans folks to thrive in our world. Your child’s queerness is special and a beautiful part of them, and being an effective ally is an important role for parents.   Articles:  It’s Not Possible to Have a “Healthy Relationship With Your Child” if You Don’t Affirm Them Kind Homophobia and Transphobia is Still Evil To LGBTQ Kids With Unaffirming Parents: You Deserve Better     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. If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.   Photo by Christian Lue The post Affirming Parenting: When Your Kid Comes Out appeared first on Queer Theology.

We’re kicking off a new podcast series all about parents and parenting! While we may not be parents ourselves, we get lots of parenting questions about resources; how to be a better ally for queer kids, how to be a Christian and/or member of a church and still affirm your child, and just how to be a better parent all around when it comes to queerness, conversations, and kids. For our first episode in this series, we each share stories of our relationships with our parents. We pull out examples from these experiences where parents can find ways to show their support. Brian explains how important it is to recognize ingrained cis and straight expectations for kids. And Shay encourages parents to help their children explore faith and spiritual practices that work for them.     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. If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.   Photo by Aiden Craver The post Affirming Parenting: Sharing Our Stories appeared first on Queer Theology.

As we end this series of folks who have been moved by their faith to action, we share our own stories of making Holy Mischief and invite y’all to create some yourself! We can all get into this by telling our truth, standing up and being visible, and really leaning in and getting a little uncomfortable. Being an Angelic Troublemaker doesn’t necessarily mean having to be on the front lines of activism. Often it’s in the little, supportive roles that when compounded, create impactful results. We hope to inspire you to show up- and keep showing up. That’s where the biggest impact will be made.    Article: LGBTQ Christian Advocacy When You’re Newly Out   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. If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com.   Photo by AJ Colores The post Angelic Troublemakers: Continuing The Work appeared first on Queer Theology.