Queer Theology

In this episode, we talk about… how perseverance and hope can take on special meaning for queer and trans people the anniversary of the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida the resilience of the LGBTQ community — we’ve been persecuted for so long but we are still here the tension between suffering producing character and also suffering not being something God wants for us how it’s not your duty to suffer how God & Christ love you even in your imperfections Read the transcript (PDF) Romans 5:1-8 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The post LGBTQ Suffering & Pulse Shooting, one year later – Romans 5:1-8 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode we talk about… why the creation stories are a pet peeve of Brian’s how this passage sets the tone and expectations for the rest of the Bible (and what that means for queer Christians) How God uses language to create the importance of sabbath and rest how queer people are made in God’s image wrestling with the binary gendered language in this text Read the transcript (PDF) Genesis 1:1 – 2:4 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 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. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”     So God created mankind in his own image,     in the image of God he created them;     male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Photo by framedbythomas   The post LGBTQ People Are Made In God’s Image – Genesis 1:1 – 2:4 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode we talk about… different types of diversity within the queer community (and why that’s important) the importance of recognizing and celebrating different identities (it’s a “melting pot” not a “tossed salad”!) Read the transcript (PDF) 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. The post One Queer Body – 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode we look at… how to understand the resurrection Surprised by Hope by NT Wright what the resurrection might have meant for the earliest followers of Jesus echoes between resurrection and the queer community the importance of bodies Resources for a queer Holy Week Read the transcript (PDF) The post Easter 2017 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode, we talk about… how our experience of Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is changed when we consider the events in between the historical context of Jesus’s ministry, Palm Sunday, the crucifixion, and resurrection echoes between Palm Sunday and LGBTQ Pride parades what happens when we nonviolently stand against power Roundup of resources for a queer Holy Week We’re hosting a live conversation to talk about queering the Bible, how the passion story echoes Shay’s journey as a trans man, and how you can find queer themes in Bible stories. Register at queertheology.com/queerbible Read the transcript (PDF) The post Palm Sunday & Holy Week 2017 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode, we look at… Brian’s doubts about resurrections miracles the historical context of the Gospel of John (and why it matters to this story) What the resurrection means to Shay (and why he really believes in it) What this passage reveals about what God thinks about death Parallels between the queer experience and resurrection Our upcoming webinar on how to “queer” passages of the Bible (register at queertheology.com/queerbible) Read the transcript (PDF) John 11:1-45 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,who is to come into the world.” After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. The post Resurrection Miracles – John 11:1-45 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode, we talk about… our upcoming webinar on learning to read scripture from a queer perspective (register at queertheology.com/queerbible) different ways to read the Bible figuring out who we are in Bible stories Brian’s first experience of finding liberation in the Bible Read the transcript (PDF) P.S. if you want to read Walking Toward Resurrection, you can get it at queertheology.com/resurrection/   The post Queering The Bible appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode we look at … the power that comes from leaving parallels between Abram’s descendants becoming a great nation and the LGBTQ community the ways in which queer people are a blessing to the world Get even more queering the Bible—and learn how to do it yourself!—inside Sanctuary Collective, our online community. Learn more at queertheology.com/sanctuary-collective Read the transcript (PDF) Genesis 12:1-4 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation,     and I will bless you; I will make your name great,     and you will be a blessing.[a] I will bless those who bless you,     and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth     will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. The post The power of queer community – Genesis 12:1-4 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In this episode we look at… how this passage resonates with folks who have been in the closet a message of hope for those who feel shame the importance of naming our sins, of bringing are shame out into the light what sin is and what it isn’t what to do after your sins are forgiven how this passage relates to folks working in solidarity with queer people a special announcement about Walking Toward Resurrection (learn more at https://www.queertheology.com/resurrection/) Don’t forget, if you want to dive deeper into queer theology, Sanctuary Collective — our online community + premium resources — is just for you! Learn more and sign up at https://www.queertheology.com/sanctuary-collective Read the transcript (PDF) Psalm 32 Blessed is the one     whose transgressions are forgiven,     whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one     whose sin the Lord does not count against them     and in whose spirit is no deceit.  When I kept silent,     my bones wasted away     through my groaning all day long.  For day and night     your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped     as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you     and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess     my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave     the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all the faithful pray to you     while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters     will not reach them. You are my hiding place;     you will protect me from trouble     and surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;     I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule,     which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle     or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked,     but the Lord’s unfailing love     surrounds the one who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;     sing, all you who are upright in heart! The post When I kept silent… – Psalm 32 appeared first on Queer Theology.

In the coming year, we’re going to be hosting an interactive course on how to read the Bible through a queer lens to understand it more deeply (and faithfully, even!). This passage is one that we’ll look at more closely — and then give you the tools so that you can find your own queer connections throughout Scripture. If you’re interested in that, let us know. In this episode we discuss… parallels between the transfiguration and coming out what to do when you’re afraid what the transfiguration might have meant for Jesus what that might mean for LGBTQ people how to create a sexual ethic for yourself (register for the webinar at queertheology.com/sex) Matthew 17:1-9 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Photo by MTSOfan The post Transfiguration: Jesus Comes Out – Matthew 17:1-9 appeared first on Queer Theology.